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DictionarySeereprisalReprisals
Reprisals in international law, one of the means of legal defense in relations between countries. Reprisals are sanctions applied by a state in response to illegal acts by another state in order to induce the latter to compensate for damages or to desist from violations in the future. Reprisals must be preceded by a demand for indemnification. They are permissible only if the other side refuses to make restitution and must cease immediately if redress has been made. Moreover, reprisals must be commensurate with the illegal actions against which they are directed. Under no circumstances, however, may a wronged state resort to armed reprisals, occupy the territory of the delinquent state, or seize its ships on the high seas. In present-day international law such acts are defined as aggression. The Declaration on the Principles of International Law, adopted by the 25th session of the UN General Assembly in 1970, contained a provision stating that countries must desist from acts of reprisal involving the use of force. Reprisals
REPRISALS, war. The forcibly taking a thing by one nation which belonged to another, in return or satisfaction for a injury committed by the latter on the former. Vatt. B., 2, ch. 18, s. 342; 1 Bl. Com. ch. 7. 2. Reprisals are used between nation and nation to do themselves justice, when they cannot otherwise obtain it. Congress have the power to grant letters of marque (q.v.) and reprisal. Const. art. 1, s. 8 cl. 11. 3. Reprisals are made in two ways either by embargo, in which case the act is that of the state; or, by letters of marque and reprisals, in which case the act is that of the citizen, authorized by the government. Vide 2 Bro. Civ. Law, 334. 4. Reprisals are divided into negative, when a nation refuses to fulfilla perfect obligation, which it has contracted, or to permit another state to enjoy a right which it justly claims; or positive, when they consist in seizing the persons and effects belonging to the other nation, in order to obtain satisfaction. 5. They are also general or special. They are general when a state which has received, or supposes it has received an injury from another nation delivers commissions to its officers and subjects to take the persons and property belonging to the other nation, in retaliation for such acts, wherever they may be found. It usually amounts to a declaration of war. Special reprisals are such as are granted in times of peace, to particular individuals who have suffered an injury from the citizens or subjects of the other nation. Bynker. Quaest. Jur. Pub. lib. 1, Duponce, au's Translation, p. 182, note; Dall. Diet. Prises maritimes, axt. 2, Sec. 5. 6. The property seized in making reprisals is preserved, while there is any hope of obtaining satisfaction or justice, as soon as that hope disappears, it is confiscated, and then the reprisal is complete. Vattel, B. 2, c. 18, Sec. 342. |