View source for Runyan v. State

{{Short description|1877 Indiana court case}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox court case
|name               = Runyan v. State
|court              = [[Supreme Court of Indiana]]
|image              = Seal of the Indiana Supreme Court.jpg
|imagesize          = 
|imagelink          = 
|imagealt           = 
|caption            = 
|full name          = Runyan v. The State.
|date decided       = May 1877
|citations          = 50 Ind. 80
|ECLI               = 
|transcripts        = 
|judges             = [[James Worden]], [[Horace P. Biddle]], [[Samuel E. Perkins]], [[William Niblack]], [[George Howk]]
|number of judges   = 5
|decision by        = Niblack
|concurring         = 
|dissenting         = 
|concur/dissent     = 
|prior actions      = 
|appealed from      = 
|appealed to        = 
|subsequent actions = 
|related actions    = 
|opinions           = 
|keywords           = {{Hlist|[[Duty to retreat]]|[[Homicide]]|[[Self-defense]]}}
|italic title       = 
}}
'''''Runyan v. State''''', 57 Ind. 80 (1877), was an Indiana court case that argued natural law and a distinct American Mind to reject a [[duty to retreat]] when claiming [[self-defense]] in a homicide case.<ref name=NDR>No Duty to Retreat:Violence and Values in American History and Society 4030 (1991)</ref><ref name=CL/>

==Background==
On election night for [[1876 United States presidential election|the 1876 presidential race]], John Runyan was harassed for being a Democrat by Charles Presnall when they were both in [[New Castle, Indiana]]. Runyan shot and killed him with his revolver even though he could have retreated.

==Decision==
The court implied it was un-American,<ref name=CL>''Criminal Law - Cases and Materials'', 7th ed. 2012, [[Wolters Kluwer Law & Business]]; [[John Kaplan (law professor)|John Kaplan]], [[Robert Weisberg]], [[Guyora Binder]], {{ISBN|978-1-4548-0698-1}}, [https://law.stanford.edu/publications/criminal-law-cases-and-materials-7th-edition/]</ref>{{rp|551–2}} writing of a referring to the distinct American mind,<ref name=NDR/> "the tendency of the American mind seems to be very strongly against" a duty to retreat.<ref name=NDR/> The court went further in saying that no statutory law could require a duty to retreat, because the right to stand one's ground is "founded on the law of nature; and is not, nor can it be, superseded by any law of society."

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Indiana state case law]]
[[Category:Self-defense]]
[[Category:1877 in United States case law]]
[[Category:New Castle, Indiana]]
[[Category:1876 United States presidential election]]


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