Lex Talionis
A Dictionary of Law · Henry Campbell Black · 1891
A Dictionary of Law
The law of retaliation; which requires the infliction upon a wrongdoer of the same injury which he has caused to another. Txpressed in the Mosaic law by the formula, “an eya for an eye; a tooth for a tooth,” ete. In modern interna tional law, the term describes the rule by which one state may inflict upon the citizens of another state death, imprisonment, or otl: er hardship, in retaliation for similar injuries imposed upon its own citizens.