The Right of Reprisal – a Customary Law of International Trade

In this interview Leslie Carr-Riegel discusses her research into inter-state mercantile trade in the medieval period and the ways in which the Right of Reprisal influenced that trade.  Leslie explains that a reprisal was a legal instrument that compensated for losses due to theft and the non-payment of debts and doweries.  Her on-going, summative work compares reprisals, and the process of gaining reprisals throughout Europe during the whole medieval period.  Surprisingly, she shows that reprisals functioned in a very similar way at a time when most aspects of trade were variable and determined locally.  Leslie also explains how reprisals influenced state-building and the development of inter-state trade treaties.This podcast is part of a series of interviews covering central Europe in the medieval period for MECERN and CEU Medieval Studies.