D?:crsioNS of united states courts. 119 



troaticm are Hubject to the name rulos of interpretation and of morality 

 wliich govern in municipal law. (Firnt Bonvier Law Dictionary, 741.) 



"Estoppel" in law in a term, tlie etymolof^y of which implies the 

 picclufsioii of a person from assertinj^ a fact by pieviouH conduct, incon- 

 sistent tlierewitii, on hi.s f)wn part or on tlie part of those under whom 

 he (jjaims. Jt is in law a prohiintion which denies a man the rij^ht of 

 {ilicj:;ing or denying; a fact in whicli he has with a full knowledj^e long 

 acf|uiesced (St(;p]iens' Plead., 2'W; see Vattel on the Law of Nations, 

 § 2H('t and § 294). Applying this rule the conr-lusion can not be escajjed 

 tliat in consefjuence of the acfjuiescence of Great liritain in the claim, 

 jurisdiction, and dominion of Russia to what is now known as Bering 

 Sea since tlie ex]>iration of the treaty of Itussia and Great Britain in 

 1H25, which was to exist ten years, (ireat Britain and her Dominion 

 (Government, of which liritish Columbia is a part, are estopped from 

 any claim of right or i)rivilege of taking fur-bearing animals in Bering 

 Hea east of the line mentioned as our western boundary in the treaty, 

 and which is recognized as the line dividing the continents of Asia and 

 North America. 



'J'he westejii boundary line of the United States as agreed ui)Ou by 

 llie United States and Bussia in the treaty of March, 1807, is as fol- 

 lows: 



'^I'he western limit within which the territories and dominion conveyed 

 are contained passes through a point in Bering's Straits on the parallel 

 of sixty-five degrees thirty miirutes north latitude, at its irjtersection 

 by the meridiair whiclr x)'i!>>ses midway between tire islands of Kruseu- 

 stern, or Igrralook, arrd theislaird of Ratmarroff, or Noonarbook, aird pro- 

 ceeds due north without limitation into the same Frozen Ocean. The 

 same western limit, beginning at the same initial x>oint, X)roceeds thence 

 iir a course rrearly southwest through Ber-ing's Straits and Bering's 

 Sea, so as to i)ass midway between the northwest jroint of the islarrd 

 of St. Lawrence arrd the southeast x>oint of Cape Choukotski, to the 

 meridian of one hundred and seventy-two west longitude; therrce from 

 the intersection of that nieiidian, in a southwesterly direction, so as to 

 ]>a:ss rrridway betweerr the islarrd of Attou arrd the Copper Islarrd of the 

 Koiinandorski couplet or grouj) in the North Pacific Ocean, to the 

 nieiidian of one hurrdredaird irirrety-three degrees west loirgitude, sous 

 to include in the territory conveyed the whole of the Aleutian Islairds 

 east of that meridiarr. (See J^ublic Treaties, ]>. 672.) 



The courts have the same riglrt arrd i>ower when called upon tointer- 

 l)r(;t a i)ublic treaty to derive aid from conternporarreous interj)retation, 

 and by ascertaining the irrtention of those whose duty it is, uirder the 

 Constitution, to make treaties as they have in the interi)retation of any 

 otlier law. What then was the object in purchasing Alaska! Mani- 

 festly to extend our northwest boundary line so as to include the whole 

 gr-oup of the Aleutian Islands. 



Senator Sumrrer, who was chairman of the Committee on Foreign Af- 

 faiis in the Senate of the United States at the time of the Alaska x^ur- 

 clrase, and after the boundary line had been agreed upon, defined it as 

 follows: 



" Starting from the Frozen Ocean the western boundary descends 

 Bering Straits midway betweerr the two islands of Krusenstern and 

 Batmanoff", to the i)arallel of G.'^''-' 30', just below where the continents 

 of America and Asia apxu'oach each other the nearest; and from this 

 poirrt it x)roceeds iir a course nearly southwest through Bering Straits, 

 nridway between the island of St. Lawrence and Cape Choukotski, to 

 the meridian of 172° west lorrgitude, and thence in a southwesterly 



