"The word was first used indicating an estate which gave its holder dignity and status." For a person to say "on my honour" was not just an affirmation of his or her integrity and rank, but the veracity behind that phrase meant he or she was willing to offer up estates as pledge and guarantee. In the early medieval period, a lord's or lady's honour was the group of manors or lands he or she held. Compare also the sociological concept of "face". One can distinguish honour from dignity, which Wordsworth assessed as measured against an individual's conscience rather than against the judgement of a community. A code of honour differs from a legal code, also socially defined and concerned with justice, in that honour remains implicit rather than explicit and objectified. Margaret Visser observes that in an honour-based society "a person is what he or she is in the eyes of other people". Honour as a code of behaviour defines the duties of an individual within a social group. Wall of Honour, Royal Military College of Canada Some have argued that honour should be seen more as a rhetoric, or set of possible actions, than as a code. Finally, with respect to sexuality, honour has traditionally been associated with (or identical to) "chastity" or "virginity", or in case of married men and women, "fidelity". This sort of honour is often not so much a function of moral or ethical excellence, as it is a consequence of power. On the other hand, Johnson also defined honour in relationship to "reputation" and "fame" to "privileges of rank or birth", and as "respect" of the kind which "places an individual socially and determines his right to precedence". This sort of honour derives from the perceived virtuous conduct and personal integrity of the person endowed with it. Samuel Johnson, in his A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), defined honour as having several senses, the first of which was " nobility of soul, magnanimity, and a scorn of meanness". Accordingly, individuals (or institutions) are assigned worth and stature based on the harmony of their actions with a specific code of honour, and the moral code of the society at large. It is an abstract concept entailing a perceived quality of worthiness and respectability that affects both the social standing and the self-evaluation of an individual or institutions such as a family, school, regiment or nation. Honour ( Commonwealth English) or honor ( American English see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a code of conduct, and has various elements such as valour, chivalry, honesty, and compassion. Alexander Hamilton defends his honour by accepting Aaron Burr's challenge.
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