102 CASE OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



a special agreement providing for measurement from a line drawn 

 across the mouth of all bays which do not exceed 10 miles in width. 



FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN, 1839. 



This was the rule adopted in the convention of the 2nd August, 

 1839, by the United Kingdom and France; and it was confirmed by 

 the subsequent convention of 1867. (App., p. 32, 38.) 



GREAT BRITAIN AND GERMANY, 1874. 



In December 1874 an agreement was entered into between the 

 United Kingdom and Germany under which 



those bays and incurvations of the coast which are 10 sea miles or 

 less in breadth, reckoned from the extremest points of the land, and 

 the flats must be considered as under the territorial sovereignty of the 

 German Empire. 



DENMARK, 1880. 



In 1880, the German Government notified German fishermen that 

 the Danish Government considered the Danish waters to include bays 

 the entrances to which did not exceed 10 miles. (App., p. 795.) 



NORTH SEA CONVENTION, 1882. 



115 By the North Sea Fishery Convention of the 6th May, 1882, 

 to which the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Denmark, 

 France, and the Netherlands were parties, it was provided that the 

 fishermen of each country should enjoy the exclusive right of fishing 

 within the distance of 3 miles from low-water mark along the whole 

 extent of the coasts of their respective countries, and that, as regards 

 bays, the distance of 3 miles should be measured from a straight 

 line drawn across the bay in the part nearest the entrance at the first 

 point where the width did not exceed 10 miles. (App., p. 41.) 



In March 1888, France adopted the same rule in fixing the limits 

 of the waters within which the vessels of other States could not fish, 



EFFECT OF THESE CONVENTIONS. 



These conventions fix by agreement a particular limit of 10 miles 

 on the coasts to which they refer, but it is important to observe that 

 such special conventions are inconsistent with the contention that 

 any limitation as to the width of bays such as is now contended for, 

 forms part of general international law. 



SUMMARY. 



His Majesty's Government submits that these facts establish be- 

 yond doubt that States do exercise exclusive jurisdiction over bodies 



