684 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



some other countries, " by consent is now taken to be a 

 maritime league seawards along the coasts of a nation." 1 



Rather different opinions are expressed by Fiore, an Italian 

 writer of eminence. While pointing out that publicists are not 

 agreed as to the extent of the territorial sea, he thinks it 

 should be determined by the necessity of the case and the 

 nature of the particular rights claimed, as fishing, dues con- 

 nected with navigation, and defence : for the latter purpose 

 he is of opinion that the zone should increase with the improve- 

 ment of artillery. With regard to the rights to certain fisheries, 

 he says that the fishing for coral, an important industry in 

 Italy, for example, belongs to the people of the neighbouring 

 coast where it is found. 2 Pradier-Fodere holds strongly to the 

 doctrine of cannon range. The extent of the territorial sea, he 

 says, depends upon the power of artillery from shore ; the 

 farthest distance a shot can be thrown, according to the pro- 

 gress of military art, is the limit of the territorial sea, and he 

 adds that this is the principle almost universally adopted, 

 although, "since the invention of firearms," this distance has 

 usually been considered as three miles. 3 Perels, a German 

 writer of eminence, accepts the doctrine of Bynkershoek that 

 the sovereign jurisdiction of a state extends in the sea to the 

 ; distance of a cannon-shot from the coast, and he says the ex- 

 tension of the boundary -line depends upon the range of cannon- 

 shot at the particular period, but is the same at any period 

 for all coasts. British and American publicists, he adds, have 

 generally adopted three miles as an equivalent, but this has not 

 usually been done by Continental authorities. 4 Another writer, 

 Ferguson, gives a novel explanation of the reason why three 

 miles is generally adopted in practice. He says the distance 

 referred to is presumed to be the range of the coast defences, 

 but on the maxim that terrce dominium finitur ubi finitur 

 armorum vis, it should be stated to extend to any point on 

 the sea to which the cannon of actual coast defences on shore 

 can carry a projectile. Since, however, the carrying power of 



1 The Law of Nations in Time of Peace, s. 172. 



2 Trattato di Diritto Internazionale Pubblico, ii. c. 3, pp. 65-67. 



3 In Fiore, Nouveau Droit International Public, note, p. 372. 



4 Das Internationale 0/entliche Scerecht der Gegenwart, p. 21 et seq. 



