182 American Fisheries Society 



authority establishes a much greater distance than three miles, 

 and the limits were fixed at 60 miles, or 100 miles, or two days' 

 journey from the shore, and so on, and it was not until the Treaty 

 of 1818 that three marine miles assumed defmiteness as a limit of 

 coastal jurisdiction. 



M. Luis M. Drago, in his important addendum to the Award 

 of The Hague Tribunal on the North Atlantic Fisheries (Sep- 

 temper 7th, 1910), says "The Treaty of 1818 is one of the few which 

 mark an era in the diplomacy of the world. As a matter of fact 

 it is the very first which commuted the rule of the cannon-shot 

 into the three marine miles of coastal jurisdiction," and Kluber 

 specially referred to the Treaties of October 20th, 1818, and 

 August 2nd, 1839, as fixing a distance of three miles from low-water 

 mark for coastal jurisdiction, but it must be added it fixes the limit 

 only for the nations who are party to such conventions. 



The unratified Treaty of 1888, between Great Britain and 

 the United States, specified three marine miles seaward from low 

 water mark. It is to be noted, however, that unless the nature 

 of the mile is defined, great uncertainty arises when three miles are 

 mentioned in a Convention or Treaty, because the length of a 

 mile varies in different countries and has undergone great changes 

 at different periods of time. Before the reign of Elizabeth, an 

 English mile was 5,000 feet, but in the thirty-fifth year of her 

 reign, it was defined as eight furlongs, or 1,760 yards of 3 feet 

 each. The English nautical or marine mile is 2,025 yards; but 

 the German geographical mile is equivalent to four nautical 

 miles, i. e., one-fifteenth of a degree. The German short mile is 

 6,859 yards, the French mile 4,263 yards, the Dutch mile 8,240 

 yards, and the Spanish mile is 4,635 yards. 



There is no uniformity in the terms used to define territorial 

 limits, in various treaties. Thus in the North Sea Convention of 

 1882, between Great Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Belgium 

 and Holland, three geographical miles are specified, whereas a 

 marine league, or three marine miles is the distance mentioned in 

 the Treaty (unratified) of 1888, between the United States and 

 Britain. Three marine miles are specified in an early Fisheries Act 

 in Canada, viz., the New Brunswick Act, passed on April 30th, 

 1851, by the Legislative Council and Assembly of New Brunswick 

 (Act 14, Victoria, Cap 31). 



