OPINIONS OF RECENT PUBLICISTS 685 



any given cannon is such a vague measure, the three-mile 

 radius is generally adopted. 1 



In the opinion of Desjardins, the expression territorial sea 

 must be taken in the precise sense given to it by international 

 law. Maritime territory, he says, is only made effectively 

 inviolable at the real range of cannon from the coast, and the 

 laws of police or customs usually applied in time of peace can- 

 not prevail against a principle founded on the nature of things. 

 In his opinion a prize taken beyond three miles from the coast, 

 but within the range of guns, would be illegitimate, while it 

 would be legitimate within the particular limits fixed by a 

 neutral state if beyond the range of guns. 2 Latour, another 

 recent French writer, also argues that the three-mile limit is 

 not necessarily the true one, but that it depends on the actual 

 range of guns from the shore. 3 On the other hand, Professor 

 Kleen, in his work on the laws of neutrality, considers the 

 Scandinavian method of delimiting the territorial sea the 

 proper one, since the extent depends not only on the mainland 

 but on the " adjacent isles." Admitting that the distance from 

 the coast at which the external limit is fixed is, according to 

 the positive international law of to-day, determined by the 

 range of cannon, he thinks this measure is so susceptible of 

 change and controversy that it is desirable to replace it by 

 a fixed one, which ought not to be less than four marine miles. 

 The range of guns is much greater than four miles ; and there 

 are some coasts where the geographical configuration requires 

 that a larger area should be subject to the territorial state, 

 in order to avoid collision with foreigners as well as encroach- 

 ments on the natural rights of the inhabitants. He is of 

 opinion that Bynkershoek's doctrine was wrong in certain 

 respects: it reposed on a basis of brute force; the range of 

 guns differs in different countries and at different times ; and 

 the range of the most powerful modern gun is too much to 

 allow a state the exclusive possession of the sea up to that 

 distance from the shore. The range of guns, he says, is ad- 

 missible in respect of war and neutrality, but in all other 

 respects the distance ought to be fixed and mathematically 



1 International Law, 399. 2 Droit Commercial Maritime, 10. 



3 La Mer Territorial, 36. 



