Marque and Reprisal : the spheres of public and private warfare

Summary: "The ever-increasing use of private contractors or employees to carry out military operations raises the question of their legal status. What is the relation between these nonstate actors and the states engaged in warfare? The question is an old one. Alongside the power to declare war, Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution grants Congress the power to "grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal," referring to the right of a state to authorize private actors to inflict injury on another party or to seize another's property to redress a wrong. Marque and Reprisal explores the history of this practice--including both mercenaries on land and privateers on water--from the medieval era to the present day in order to understand the widespread modern use of private violence in military conflict. Kenneth Moss argues that the current practice, operating as it does with the full support of state authorities, threatens the authority of the state in unprecedented ways. While the use of nonstate actors is not new, the vastly different nature of modern combat and the role such actors play in current global conflicts pose troubling legal and political problems"--