A
reprisal is a limited and deliberate violation of the
laws of war to punish an enemy for breaking the
laws of war. A reprisal is not an
atrocity. In the United States
military, the lowest ranked commander who can authorize a reprisal is the theater commander (i.e. Europe, Middle East, etc).
A related concept is Letter of marque (license to hunt enemy ships and retake lost ships from the enemy).
This is a stub article.
See also: War, Laws of war.