三者均為國際法上的報復行為。retaliation ( “報復”)為通用語,指對過錯或傷害行為進行的報復(the act of striking back for an injury or wrong, return of like for like[1])。reprisal 和 retorsion則為具體的兩種報復行為。其中,retorsion (也拼寫為retortion) 為“反報”,主要是指針對某國家不禮貌,不友好,不正當或不公正,但不一定是非法的行為,用相同或類似的行為所進行的合法報復,如中斷外交關系,驅逐其國民,限制他們的旅游權利(an act of lawful retaliation in kind for another's unfriendly or unfair act. Examples of retorsion include suspending diplomatic relations ,expelling foreign nationals, and restricting travel rights. ),以及設置貿易壁壘等。而reprisal所指的報復行為或手段則比retorsion激烈,常包括諸如捕獲船舶或扣押貨物,轟炸或占領它國領土,或扣押人員等,但不包括戰(zhàn)爭(an act of retaliation, usually of one nation against another but short of war; the use of force,short of war, against another country to redress an injury caused by that country[3])。過去不少詞典和學者都將reprisal譯為“報復”,這樣一來便與retaliation的譯法雷同。筆者認為既然reprisal 是“an act of retaliation”,而且 retorsion 也是一種“an act of lawful retaliation”,現(xiàn) retaliation 已經(jīng)是“報復”,再將 reprisal 簡單譯為“報復”似乎不妥。鑒于人們已經(jīng)習慣稱retorsion為“反報”,筆者因此建議將reprisal譯為“反擊”(我國在上世紀 六、七十年代進行的中越、中印邊界自衛(wèi)反擊戰(zhàn)不就是一種很好的例證),以消除reprisal與retaliation的混清。
[1] Cf. Gerard M. Dalgish, Ph. D. , Random House Webster's Dictionary of American English, at p. 1102,Random House, New York (1997).
[2] Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 1318, West Group (1999).
[3] Cf. Bryan A. Gamer, A Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage, 2nd edition, at p. 759, Oxford University Press Ltd. (1995);Cf. Bryan A . Gamer, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th edition, at p. 1305, West Group (1999).