Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

special reprisal

A reprisal by which a nation authorizes an aggrieved private citizen to redress an injury caused by another nation. ( An example is an authorization for a private citizen to seize a particular vessel of the offending nation. See LETTERS OF MARQUE. 2. (often pl.) Int'l law. An act of forceful retaliation for injury or attack by another country; formerly, in war, the killing of prisoners in response to an enemy's war crimes (now unlawful). Cf. RETORSION. 3. Any act or instance of retaliation, as by an employer against a complaining employee.