556 



THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



certain and unsatisfactory were the limits previously proposed, 

 and, following Grotius, he laid down the principle that the 

 dominion of a state extended over the neighbouring sea as 

 far, and only as far, as it was able to command and control 

 it from the land. But he went further and showed how the 

 principle was to be carried into practice. The dominion of 

 the territory extended as far as projectiles could be thrown 

 from the shore by artillery, so that exclusive possession might 

 be taken of the part so commanded : " the dominion of the 

 land ends where the power of arms terminates." 1 Thus 

 Bynkershoek assigned the dominion of the adjacent sea (mare 

 proximum) to the neighbouring state, within the range of 

 a cannon-shot from the shore. Besides the general reasoning 

 on which the limit was based, he cited in support of it an 

 Act of state. He was apparently unaware of the clear dec- 

 laration made by the Dutch ambassadors a century earlier; 

 but he referred to an edict of the States - General in 1671, 

 which enjoined that the commanders of their ships should 

 give the salute on the coasts of a foreign Power when they 

 were within the range of the guns of a town or fort, in 

 such manner as the Government of the country should re- 

 quire, leaving to its discretion the return of the salute, and 

 adding that every Government was sovereign within its own 

 jurisdiction and every foreigner a subject there. 2 



This decree could not, of course, as Bynkershoek admitted, 

 bind other Powers to the same opinion. Nevertheless it may 

 be said that the almost universal practice which had grown 

 up, regulating the salute of a vessel coming within range of 

 a battery on a foreign coast, had prepared the way for the 

 acceptance of the doctrine. It was a recognition that the 

 vessel had passed within the sphere of territorial authority 



1 " Unde dominium inaris proximi non ultra concedimus, quam e terra illi im- 

 perari potest, et tamen eo usque ; nulla siquidem sit ratio, cur mare, quod in ali- 

 cujus imperio est et potestate, minus ejusdem esse dicamus, quam fossam in ejus 

 territorio. . . . Quare omnino videtur rectius, eo potestatem terrse extendi, 

 quousque tormenta exploduntur, eatenus quippe cum imperare, turn possidere 

 videmur. Loquor autem de his temporilms, quibus illis machinis utimur : alio- 

 quin.generaliter dicendum esset, potestatem terrse finiri, ubi finitur armorum vis; 

 etenim hscc, ut diximus, possessionem tuetur." De Dom. Maris, cap. ii. In the 

 Qucestiones the phrase is "imperium terra) finitur, ubi finitur armorum potestas," 

 and " terrae dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis." 



2 Ibid., cap. ii. 



