GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT 599 



and that a similar jurisdiction is also asserted by the United 

 States over Delaware Bay, and other bays and estuaries form- 

 ing portions of their territory, and that a state had the 

 exclusive right of fishing within its territorial waters. 



Chancellor Kent, who was another high American authority, 

 expressed somewhat different opinions from those of Wheaton, 

 in a treatise published in 1826, and seemed inclined to extend 

 territorial jurisdiction much farther into the sea than the latter 

 writer. 1 The extent of such jurisdiction over the neighbouring 

 sea is, he says, often a question of difficulty and of dubious 

 right, but as far as a nation can conveniently occupy, and 

 that occupancy is acquired by prior possession or treaty, the 

 jurisdiction is exclusive. It is difficult, he states elsewhere, 

 to draw any precise conclusion, amidst the variety of opinion, 

 as to the distance to which a state may lawfully extend its 

 exclusive dominion over the sea adjoining its territories, and 

 beyond harbours, gulfs, bays, and estuaries, where its juris- 

 diction unquestionably extends. "All that can reasonably be 

 asserted is, that the dominion of the sovereign of the shore 

 over the contiguous sea extends as far as is requisite for 

 his safety, and for some lawful end. A more extended 

 dominion must rest entirely upon force and maritime suprem- 

 acy. According to the current of modern authority," he 

 continues, " the general territorial jurisdiction extends into the 

 sea as far as cannon-shot will reach, and no farther; and 

 this is generally calculated to be a marine league." These 

 opinions do not differ materially from those of Puffendorf 

 and Vattel, and the tendency of this writer to allow an 

 extended maritime jurisdiction is shown by his statement 

 regarding bays. He holds that the American Government 

 have the right to claim for fiscal and defensive regulations 

 an extensive jurisdiction, and that it would not be unreasonable 

 to assume, "for domestic purposes connected with our safety 

 and welfare," the control of the waters within lines stretch- 

 ing from quite distant headlands, as from Cape Ann to Cape 

 Cod, and from Nantucket to Montauk Point, and from that 

 point to the capes of the Delaware, and from the south cape 

 of Florida to the Mississippi; that is to say, within areas in 

 comparison with which the " King's Chambers " are insignificant, 



1 Commentaries on American Law, i. Part I. Lect. iii. 



