資料來源 : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Reprisal \Re*pris"al\ (r?-priz"al), n. [F. repr?saille, It.
ripresaglia, rappresaglia, LL. reprensaliae, fr. L.
reprehendere, reprehensum. See {Reprehend}, {Reprise}.]
1. The act of taking from an enemy by way of reteliation or
indemnity.
Debatable ground, on which incursions and reprisals
continued to take place. --Macaulay.
2. Anything taken from an enemy in retaliation.
3. The act of retorting on an enemy by inflicting suffering
or death on a prisoner taken from him, in retaliation for
an act of inhumanity. --Vattel (Trans.)
4. Any act of retaliation. --Waterland.
{Letters of marque and reprisal}. See under {Marque}.
Marque \Marque\, n. [F. marque, in lettre de marque letter of
marque, a commission with which the commandant of every armed
vessel was obliged to be provided, under penalty of being
considered a pirate or corsair; marque here prob. meaning,
border, boundary (the letter of marque being a permission to
go beyond the border), and of German origin. See {March}
border.] (Law)
A license to pass the limits of a jurisdiction, or boundary
of a country, for the purpose of making reprisals.
{Letters of marque}, {Letters of marque and reprisal}, a
license or extraordinary commission granted by a
government to a private person to fit out a privateer or
armed ship to cruise at sea and make prize of the enemy's
ships and merchandise. The ship so commissioned is
sometimes called a letter of marque.