The Canadian House of Commons Chamber (modelled after the British Chamber in Westminster) was built so that “The distance across the floor of the House between the government and opposition benches is 3.96 metres, said to be equivalent to two swords’ length.” The reasoning behind this was to prevent duels between members of opposing parties.
Distancing: saving lives since 1866*!
Cheers,
Aspasía S. Bissas
*Or, 1801, when the British House of Commons was originally built (Westminster itself has been around since 1016).
Aspasía S. Bissas 
That’s an interesting piece of information! I an now tempted to find out why that was necessary, was there a deadly sword-fight in chamber once?
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Thank you 🙂 There’s no evidence that there was ever a deadly fight. I think it was more symbolic, as a subtle reminder to Members of Parliament to behave!
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Hmm I see, I can understand that, I will search though, just in case some medieval knight once got carried away 🙂
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Let me know if you find anything 🙂
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