48 



for denying to other nations in tliat area the privilege of navigation 

 or fishery, but that fact does not negative the dominion that may be 

 thus lawfully exercised. To illustrate: If an island should be thrown 

 up by volcanic action or the action of the water within the limits of 

 Bering Sea it would beloug to the United States, without first discovery 

 or occupation, in virtue of its dominion already exercised over tliat sea. 

 And, so, if it became necessary that the United States should close 

 Unimak Pass with obstruction, for any purpose, even to the great 

 inconvenience of navigators or fishermen, the question of the right to 

 do this would be resolved, linder the international law, by the other 

 question whether the easement of navigation through that i)ass was of 

 such importance to the world that the owner of the soil beneath the 

 water would, in justice, be compelled to yield its rights. 



In all such cases, where the exercise of the privilege of navigation, 

 fishery, or other easement is injurious to the owner of the soil above 

 which it is exercised, the privilege must yield to the higher right of the 

 dominion of the owner of the soil. 



The right of dominion in a sea like Bering Sea or the sea of Okhotsk 

 does not depend on its being separated from water communication with 

 the ocean. If the configuration of the land surrounding it is such as 

 to make it necessary to the peculiar commerce of the country within 

 which it is embayed, or to the defense of such country, or to the jjroper 

 administration of its powers of government over its own people, it is a 

 right ex debito justitice that there should be dominion over such sea. 



This is the right that is now the foundation of the exclusive right of 



several nations to dominion over seas that are not inclosed by the land 



on their shores, as stated by Sir Kobert Phillimore, page 225, as follows : 



The exclusive right of the British Crown to the Bristol Channel, to 

 the channel between Ireland and Great Britain (Mare Hibernicum, 

 Canal de St. George), and to the channel between Scotland and Ire- 

 land is uncontested. Pretty much on the same category are tlie three 

 straits forming the entrance to tlic Baltic, the Great and the Little 

 Belt, and the Sound, which belong to the Crown of Denmark; the 

 Straits of Messina (il faro di Messina, /return Siculum), once belonging 

 to the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; the straits leading to the Black 

 Sea, the Dardanelles and Hellespont; theThracian Bosphorus, belong- 

 ing to the Turkish Empire. To narrow seas which flow between 

 separate portions of the same kingdom, like the Danish and Turkish 

 Straits, as to other seas common to all nations, like tha Straits of 

 Messina and, perhaps the St. George's Cliannel, the doctrine o^ innocent 

 use is, according to Vattel, strictly applicable. 



In the case of the seas here mentioned other nations have the right 



to the innocent use of them, hut it must rest with the nation claiming 



