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In the days of fighting sail, a letter of marque and reprisal was a government license authorizing a person (known as a ''privateer'') to attack and capture enemy vessels and bring them before admiralty courts for condemnation and sale. Cruising for prizes with a letter of marque was considered an honorable calling combining patriotism and profit, in contrast to unlicensed piracy, which was universally reviled.〔Upton's ''Maritime Warfare and Prize'' pp 170-171; 176 (discussing the history of letters of marque and reprisal. Upton is considered the foremost 19th-century American scholar on prize law.〕 In addition to the term ''lettre de marque,'' the French sometimes used the term ''lettre de course'' for their letters of marque. "Letter of marque" was sometimes used to describe the vessel used: a "letter of marque" generally refers to a lumbering square-rigged cargo carrier that might pick up a prize if the opportunity arose.〔Donald Petrie, ''The Prize Game'' p. 4 (noting cumbrous square-rigged cargo carriers often secured Letters of Marque just in case— "()onfusingly, such vessels were themselves called "letters of marque'): see also Geoffrey Footner, '' Tidewater Triumph,'' pp ? (discussing difference between letter of marque vessels and privateers)〕 A "privateer" was a fast and weatherly fore-and-aft-rigged vessel heavily armed and heavily crewed, intended exclusively for fighting. A "letter of marque and reprisal" would include permission to cross an international border to effect a reprisal (take some action against an attack or injury) authorized by an issuing jurisdiction to conduct reprisal operations outside its borders. ==Etymology== Old English ''mearc'', from Germanic '' *mark-'' ‘boundary; boundary marker’, from Proto-Indo-European '' *merǵ-'' ‘boundary, border’. French, from Provençal ''marca'', from ''marcar'' ‘seize as a pledge‘ 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「letter of marque」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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