42 ARGUMENT OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



lu the case of the Falkland Islands, the conditions 



45 recited in the preamble of the Statute are identical 

 with those wliich are alleged to exist as to the seals 



in the North Pacific, and the colonial legislation has been 

 framed in strict accordance with the principles contended 

 for by Great Britain. 



ivTeither Great Britain nor her Colonies, under circum- 

 stances of seal life precisely identical with those of the 

 seals in the I^^orth Pacific, have attempted to establish a 

 right of property in or protection of the seals frequenting 

 and breediijg on their shores when they leave the terri- 

 torial waters. 



Greenland or Jan Mayen Fisheries. 



United states The sccond gToup of enactmeuts of other countries 

 Case, p. 227. referred to in the United States' Case are based upon Con- 

 ventions; they therefore lend no support to the United 

 States' contention, that 'they can by their independent 

 action claim to enforce such regulations against the sub- 

 jects of other nations in respect of fishing in the high sea. 

 The enactments in question are those of Great Britain, 

 Sweden, Norway, Russia, Germany, and Holland. They 

 all deal with the Jan Mayen seal fisheries in the Atlantic 

 east of Greenland; and proceed on the principle here 

 enunciated. 



LEGISLATION AS TO GREENLAND FISHERY. 



38 Vict., cap. 18. The first section of "The Great Britain Greenland Seal 

 Fishery Act of 1875" is shortly as follows: 



When it apjiears to Her Majesty in Council that the foreign States 

 whose ships or subjects are engaged in the ,Jau Mayen fishery . . . 

 have made or will make with respect to their own shii)s and subjects 

 the like provisions to those contained in this Act, it shall be lawful 

 for Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to direct that this Act shall 

 apply to the said seal fishery. 



The legislation of the other countries is conceived in a 

 similar spirit, and was passed after negotiations between 

 their respective Governments. 



The necessary legislation having been provided, the 

 Queen, by Order in Council, dated the 28th November, 

 1870, put the Act in force against her own subjects. 



46 PRINCIPLES OP FISHERY CONVENTIONS. 



c^e'*)^?'"^**^ The great difficulty of effectively maintaining a close 



' ■ ' ' time in distant fisheries in the high seas, and of protecting 



and regulating such fisheries, except as against subjects, 



has in many instances been dealt with by Conventions, as 



is stated in the United States Case. 



These Conventions proceed on principles well established. 

 These principles are: 



1. The determination of the limits of the exclusive fish- 

 eries of the respective parties to the Convention. 



2. Except as expressly varied by agreement the respec- 

 tive national jurisdictions are preserved intact. 



