Also known as: reprisals · retaliation · retorsion
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An act of retaliation for an injury, short of declaring war, historically authorized through letters of marque and reprisal.
After a foreign navy seized American merchant ships without cause, Congress passed a statute granting letters of marque and reprisal to private American vessels. Robert Rivera outfitted his ship under the authorization and captured the offending foreign vessel on the high seas. The seizure redressed the prior injury without triggering full-scale war between the nations.
Rhea Reynolds shouted personally abusive epithets at a stranger on a public street, calling him a coward who deserved physical punishment. The stranger responded with an immediate physical attack that the court later characterized as provoked retaliation. The prosecution charged the stranger with assault while treating Reynolds's words as unprotected fighting words that invited the reprisal.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Ricardo Rojas faced an attacker wielding a knife and responded by striking the attacker with a heavy object. The blow caused serious bodily harm that the court found exceeded the privilege of self-defense under the circumstances. Rojas could not claim the force as lawful reprisal because it created a substantial risk of fatal consequences beyond what was reasonably necessary.
State officials in State B issued a proclamation authorizing private citizens to seize property of foreign nationals in retaliation for a trade dispute. Rina Rahman, acting under the state proclamation, boarded and detained a foreign merchant ship in State B waters. The federal government invalidated the action because only Congress may grant letters of marque and reprisal.
A state statute required public disclosure of all contributors to minor political parties. Ralph Richardson and other donors to a controversial minor party faced credible threats of economic reprisal and harassment if their names were released. The court permitted an as-applied exemption from disclosure to prevent the anticipated retaliation.
A state law restricted coal companies from mining in ways that caused surface subsidence damaging overlying property. Ridgeway Partners argued the restriction impaired their contractual rights to extract coal under prior agreements. The Court upheld the statute because it served a substantial public interest and did not constitute an unlawful reprisal against the companies' prior contracts.
Article I, Section 8 grants Congress the power to declare war, grant letters of marque and reprisal, and make rules concerning captures on land and water. This power allows Congress to authorize limited coercive actions short of full-scale war to redress injuries by foreign nations.
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No. Article I, Section 10 expressly prohibits states from granting letters of marque and reprisal. Only the federal government through Congress may authorize such actions.
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Fighting words are personally abusive epithets likely to provoke immediate physical retaliation. When such words are spoken, the resulting physical response may be treated as a form of provoked reprisal that the law does not protect under the First Amendment.
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Force used in self-defense must not be intended or likely to cause death or serious bodily harm unless the actor reasonably believes such force is necessary. Serious bodily harm is defined as harm differing in kind from ordinary injury, including substantial risk of death or permanent loss of function.
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…leave unredressed the wrongs done by dishonest officers than to subject those who try to do their duty to the constant dread of retaliation. . . . "The decisions have, indeed, always imposed as a limitation upon the immunity that the official's act must have been within the scope of his powers; and it can be argued that…