Trial by Combat

When a Decepticon has committed transgressions against the current leadership that are sufficiently grave to warrant summary execution, it is their right to choose Trial by Combat in an attempt to "prove" their innocence.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

Long ago on Cybertron, Earthquake and Tornado fought a Trial by Combat that resulted in both of their deaths.

Much later on Earth, Megatron was suspicious that Starscream was plotting to overthrow him as leader of the Decepticons and dispatched Ravage to keep an eye on him, but the spy was discovered and seriously wounded by Starscream. When this was discovered, Megatron sentenced the treacherous Seeker to obliteration beyond any possibility of re-animation but Starscream demanded his right to Trial by Combat instead. Rather than risk one of his own troops, Megatron contacted Optimus Prime, whose warrior Brawn had committed similar crimes, and suggested they solve their problems mutually. Although Prime was not keen on the idea at first, Brawn jumped at the chance to prove himself and soon found himself facing off against Starscream in the desert, with Ravage and Mirage as observers. Thanks to Mirage's hologram trickery, Brawn was apparently destroyed when he attempted to surrender and shortly afterwards Starscream was shot down and wounded by Ravage, who blamed it on the Autobots' observer. The Enemy Within!

Marvel UK future timelines

Captured by Megatron on Cybertron in 1990, Hot Rod was forced to watch as the Decepticon leader accused Bludgeon of being a traitor to the cause. Demanding Trial by Combat, Bludgeon was pitted against his team-mates Octopunch, Stranglehold and Warmonger, holding his own until Warmonger managed to get the drop on him. Unfortunately, being an undercover Autobot, Warmonger couldn't bring himself to kill the Pretender in cold blood—which revealed him as the real traitor and sealed his fate at the business end of Megatron's fusion cannon. Aspects of Evil!