447 



Fisheries in September, 1045. is that other countries will claim more than any 

 new claim the United States makes, deliberately interpret the new claim the 

 United States makes in their favor, and use our new claim, their new claim, and 

 their misinterpretation of our new claim, as substantiation for any action they 

 wish to take over and above what the United States wants to do. The parochial 

 view noted * * * above pushed us into this invidious position in 1945, and we 

 should guard carefully against repeating that mistake. 5 



Regardless of the diverse reactions and interpretations, the Truman 

 Proclamation remained de facto policy for many years to come. In the 

 ensuing years, the lack of definitive boundaries and agreement on such 

 boundaries resulted in a series of spectacular cases between the Federal 

 Government and the States, particularly California, Texas, and Loui- 

 siana. These litigations concerned the coastal zone, but included areas 

 within the boundaries of the continental shelf. 



THE SUBMERGED LANDS ACT OF 195 3 



In an effort to resolve the issue of State boundaries, the Federal 

 Government instituted an action in the United States Supreme Court 

 against the States of California, Texas and Louisiana. These States 

 were chosen because they were then the only States in the Union which 

 had offshore areas with promising oil and gas deposits. 8 



Between 1947 and 1950. the Court had decided that these States had 

 no title to, or property interest in, the submerged lands off their respec- 

 tive coasts outside the inland waters. The Federal Government claimed 

 all rights over the lands, minerals and other things underlying the 

 offshore waters. 



These Supreme Court decisions were reversed by the Congress in 

 the Submerged Lands Act of May 22, 1953. 7 



The Submerged Lands Act attempted to define certain terms and 

 solve some of the problems, providing definitions of "coast line," "land 

 beneath navigable waters," and the seaward boundaries of the states. 

 It set the seaward limit as three marine miles from the coast, or as 

 these boundaries "existed at the time such State became a member of 

 the Union, * * * but in no event shall the term 'boundaries' or the 

 term 'lands beneath navigable waters' be interpreted as extending 

 from the coast line more than three geographical miles into the At- 

 lantic Ocean or the Pacific Ocean, or more than three marine leagues 

 into the Gulf of Mexico." 8 



The Act left undefined the term "inland waters" and introduced a 

 new element of uncertainty as to the historical boundaries of the 

 States. It did, however, render considerable statutory weight for the 

 first time to the Truman Proclamation by providing that the natural 

 resources of the continental shelf seaward of the areas granted the 

 States "appertain to the United States, and the jurisdiction and con- 



5 Wilbert. M. Chapman. "A Symposium on National Interest* In Coastal Waters." In "The 

 Law of the Sea," edited by Lewis M. Alexander. (Ohio State University Press, 1967), 

 pape 125. 



• California claimed three marine miles. Louisiana 27 marine miles, and Texas to the 

 outer edpe of the continental shelf. This litigation was referred to as the "tidelands con- 

 troversy," although in the technical sense neither the tidelands nor the inland waters was 

 at Issue. The Federal Government had alreadv conceded the ownership of these areas by 

 the States. 



T Article IV, s. 3, of the Constitution of the United States vests In Conpress the power 

 to dispose of property belonging to the I'nited States. The power of Conpress to grant 

 submerped lands to the States as it did in the Submerged Lands Act of 1953 was challenged 

 the year after, but the Act was sustained. Alabama is. Texas (1954), 347 U.S. 272. 



•One marine leapue equals 2.4-4.6 miles. Three marine leagues in the sense above equal 

 approximately 10.5 miles. 



96-525 O - 77 - vol. 1 - 30 



