GENERAL ADOPTION OF THE THREE-MILE LIMIT 601 



appeared in the same year. 1 He adopted Bynkershoek's doc- 

 trine of the range of guns, but makes no mention of the 

 three-mile limit or any other alternative distance. A certain 

 breadth of the adjacent open sea is, he says, necessary for 

 defence and security, and it is that portion within reach of 

 cannon-shot, capable of being protected and commanded by 

 artillery from the land, and thus susceptible of exclusive and 

 permanent dominion, if not of appropriation. Beyond the 

 range of artillery the sea is common ; within that range each 

 nation has the right of sovereignty, legislative, judicial, and 

 executive, and the exclusive fishery. This part of the sea 

 cannot be used by nations generally, without diminishing the 

 use or enjoyment of others, and its produce is by no means 

 inexhaustible. 



Ortolan, a French publicist of eminence, writing about the 

 same time, not only adopted the principle of Bynkershoek, 

 but affirmed in a positive manner that the extent of the 

 territorial sea should correspond to the actual range of artillery 

 at the time. 2 Although the gunshot limit was the one recog- 

 nised, there was nothing, he says, to hinder two or more 

 states from fixing between themselves, by treaty, another 

 limit, but such would be binding only on those who were 

 parties to the agreement. Bays and arms of the sea whose 

 shores belong to the same state are also territorial, provided 

 that their width does not exceed twice the actual range of 

 guns, or that the entrance can be commanded by artillery, 

 or is naturally protected by islands, banks, or rocks. Within 

 the territorial sea as thus defined the state has the power 

 of making laws and regulations for its safety, prosperity, 

 and interests, but it has not the right of property, Ortolan, 

 like so many other writers, drawing a distinction between 

 property and jurisdiction. The opinion that the real range 

 of guns is the true principle for the determination of the 

 extent of the territorial sea was also affirmed by Hautefeuille, 

 another French writer of authority. 3 According to him, it 

 extends to the distance a ball can be actually thrown from 



1 Researches in Maritime International Law, i. 16. 1844. 



2 Regies Internationales et Diplomatic de la Mer, i. 177. 



3 Histoire des Origines, des Progres, et des Variations du Droit Maritime Interna- 

 tional, ed. 1858, p. 22. 





