THE JURIDICAL CONTROVERSIES 349 



by ^common consent, the most inconsiderable part of the sea, 

 although almost enclosed by the shores, can never be the 

 property of a particular people. And in places where the 

 law of nations was not received, or was afterwards abolished, 

 it does not follow that the people merely because they possess 

 the lands also possess the sea enclosed by them : the taking 

 possession must be made by an overt act, and signified and 

 made known. And if the possession thus gained by the 

 right of prior occupation is afterwards abandoned, the sea 

 returns to its original nature namely, to the common use 

 of "mankind. Further, he who possesses any part of the sea 

 cannot lawfully hinder unarmed ships, giving no room to 

 apprehend danger, from sailing there, in the same way that 

 he cannot justly prohibit innocent passage through his lands. 

 Grotius goes on to explain that it is more easy to take 

 possession of the jurisdiction (imperium) alone over part 

 of the sea than of the right of property, and that it is not 

 contradicted by the law of nations ; and he points to a 

 number of instances among the ancients. 1 He admits that 

 sovereignty or jurisdiction may be acquired on the sea either 

 in regard to persons or in regard to territory (ratione per- 

 soiiarum et ratione territorii), in regard to persons, as when 

 a fleet, which is a maritime army, is maintained in any 

 part of the sea; in regard to territory, as when those who 

 sail along the coasts may be compelled from the land, as 

 if they were actually on the land. 2 



The latter statement of Grotius contains the germ of the 

 idea subsequently adopted by almost all the writers on inter- 

 national law, that the extent of the adjoining sea over which 

 the neighbouring state is entitled to exercise dominion is 

 limited by the range of guns from the land. Grotius does 

 not mention the means by which compulsion was to be 

 made effective, but there is little or no doubt of what was 



1 Lib. ii. cap. iii. ss. ix. -xii. 



2 Lib. ii. cap. iii. s. xiii. 2. " Videtur autein imperium in maris portionem 

 eadem ratione acquiri qua imperia alia, id eat, ut supra diximus, ratione person- 

 arum et ratione territorii. Ratione personarum, ut si classis, qui maritimus est 

 exercitus, aliquo in loco maris se habeat : ratione territorii, quatenus ex terra cogi 

 possunt qui in proxima maris parte versantur, nee minus quam si in ipsa terra 

 reperirentur." 



