A topic from AEG's L5R CCG Rules forum, copied for Oracle of the Void from a copy of the forum saved in October 2015, so pages it didn't save are missing. Players' names are left out; the rules officials are named. Rulings are as they stood on these dates; later rulings, the rulebooks and the Rules Archive may differ.
A player, 18 February 2012
Magistrate's Stipend: Reaction: After you a announce a non-Iaijutsu action, choose your performing Magistrate: Give him +1C until the action ends.
Doji Hakuseki XP 2: Battle: Target an enemy Personality: Hakuseki issues him an unrefusable challenge. The controller of the duel’s winner gains 2 Honor. Bow the duel’s loser, and destroy him if he is dishonorable.
If I use the reaction off of Magistrate's Stipend to give Hakuseki +1 Chi, then will she have that +1 Chi in the duel or is the end of Hakuseki's action considered to be the creation of the duel?
Jon Palmer (rules official), 19 February 2012
Magistrate's Stipend: Reaction: After you a announce a non-Iaijutsu action, choose your performing Magistrate: Give him +1C until the action ends.
Doji Hakuseki XP 2: Battle: Target an enemy Personality: Hakuseki issues him an unrefusable challenge. The controller of the duel’s winner gains 2 Honor. Bow the duel’s loser, and destroy him if he is dishonorable.
If I use the reaction off of Magistrate's Stipend to give Hakuseki +1 Chi, then will she have that +1 Chi in the duel or is the end of Hakuseki's action considered to be the creation of the duel?
A challenge does not create an Iaijutsu action by default. Therefore, Magistrate's Stipend will pump Hakuseki's chi for purposes of her duel. The action does not end until the resolution is complete.