ORAL ARGUMENT OF HON. EDWARD J. PHELPS. 123 



eveiywliore. To exclude them yon must conucot tlunr preseueo with 

 some miscliief, some harm, some danger; the iurisdi(;tion for tlie three 

 miles, or the cannon shot, or whatever indefinite distance it may be, is 

 not a general jurisdiction, it is a jurisdiction for all necessary purposes, 

 leaving to the nation a veryliberal discretion in determining what " neces- 

 sary purposes" are, — and nothing else. Thus, the jurisdiction of a 

 nation outside of the water line it will be perceived is a special juris- 

 diction. Inside of its territory it may pass any law it pleases; beyond 

 the water line it has a juiisdiction up to a certain extent for certain 

 proper purposes — revenue, quarantine, pilotage, everything that a 

 reason can be given for; and an exclusive right, unquestionably, of 

 fishing and hunting and to the products of the sea. 



Then, does this special jurisdict ion terminate on the three mile line? I 

 shall have occasion to point out, upon the very highest and most recent 

 authority, how utterly vague aiul uncertain this idea of a three mile 

 line is. But call it three miles for the purpose of my present discus- 

 sion, and assume that the whole world have agreed to call it just three 

 miles — no more — no less, — does the right stop tliere? How comes it there 

 at all beyond the shore line! — Because it is found necessary, by uni- 

 versal agreement, that nations, for their own ])rotection, should have 

 that much ; and therefore it has become settled by the usage of nations 

 that they shall have it; in other words that they shall add three miles 

 of the high sea to their territory for certain purposes only. Does it 

 stop at this limit of three miles? It does not stop there if there is a 

 just necessity in particular cases for extending it further; and I shall 

 cite authorities to show that while beyond the three mile line the juris- 

 diction becomes still more special than it was inside, and is still more 

 restricted, nevertheless, when it comes to pass that the three mile limit 

 Is not enough to answer the purposes for which it is accorded, but tiiat 

 for special occasions, perhaj)S revenue, perhaps quarantine, perhaps 

 lighthouses, perhaps anything that is really necessary, the jurisdiction 

 of that nation — I mean the special jurisdiction — the jurisdiction over 

 waters, on the sea, goes farther still in the adjacent waters — goes as 

 far as may be necessary. It has been extended to twelve miles and to 

 various distances. And that while national jurisdiction is not complete 

 within the three mile line because it only extends to proper subjects 

 and proper cases, then when the real necessity of the case extends fur- 

 ther, the jurisdiction of the nation goes with the necessity; in other 

 words that the limit of the jurisdiction of a maritime nation upon the 

 high sea is the limit of the actual necessity of the protection of its 

 interests. 



That is the proposition. It is not a geographical limit — it never was; 

 it never can be — it is a limit of propriety — a limit of reasonable neces- 

 sity. Of course as I said before on this subject of self defence, the 

 nation that undertakes to assert that, must be prepared to justify it. I 

 do not at all say that because a nation chooses to assert that a six mile 

 limit or a ten mile limit, for certain purposes, are essential to its pro- 

 tection, that it is thereupon entitled to possess itself of that limit. It 

 asserts it, and the judgment of the world is the tribunal. When a 

 nation in tiie exercise of its governmental power makes such an asser- 

 tion as that, it brings its case before the tribunal of the world, and 

 there it will be decided one way or the other. It will be determined 

 by the repudiatiim of natiojis, — the refusal of nations, the dissent of 

 nations from such a proposition and the refusal to res])ect it, and then 

 it perishes. It is a mere assertion tliat is fouiul in the judgment of 

 mankind to be an unwarranted assertion, and it falls to the ground. 



