4 COUNTER CASE OF THE UNITED STATES. 



and this requires an examination of the contentions of Great Britain 

 and the United States, which are made part of the Question, and on 

 which it is based. 



Question I recites as the contention of the United States that the 

 exercise of the liberty to take fish referred to in Article I of the 

 treaty, which the inhabitants of the United States have forever in 

 common with the subjects of His Britannic Majesty " is not subject 

 to limitations or restraints by Great Britain, Canada or Newfound- 

 land in the form of municipal laws, ordinances, or regulations in 

 respect of (1) the hours, days, or seasons when the inhabitants of the 

 United States may take fish on the treaty coasts, or (2) the method, 

 means, and implements used by them in taking fish or in carrying on 

 fishing operations on such coasts, or (3) any other limitations or 

 restraints of similar character 



(a) Unless they are appropriate and necessary for the protec- 

 tion and preservation of the common rights in such fisheries and the 

 exercise thereof; and 



(b) Unless they are reasonable in themselves and fair as between 

 local fishermen and fishermen coming from the United States, and not 

 so framed as to give an advantage to the former over the latter class ; 

 and 



(c) Unless their appropriateness, necessity, reasonableness, and 

 fairness be determined by the United States and Great Britain by 

 common accord and the United States concurs in their enforcement. 



The contention of Great Britain, as recited in Question I, is that 

 the exercise of such liberty " is subject, without the consent of the 

 United States, to reasonable regulation by Great Britain, Canada, or 

 Newfoundland in the form of municipal laws, ordinances, or rules, 

 as, for example, to regulations in respect of (1) the hours, days, or 

 seasons when fish may be taken on the treaty coasts; (2) the method, 

 means, and implements to be used in the taking of fish or in the 

 carrying on of fishing operations on such coasts; (3) any other mat- 

 ters of a similar character relating to fishing; such regulations being 

 reasonable, as being, for instance 



(a) Appropriate or necessary for the protection and preservation 

 of such fisheries and the exercise of the rights of British subjects 

 therein and of the liberty which by the said Article I the inhab- 

 itants of the United States have therein in common with British 

 subjects; 



(b) Desirable on grounds of public order and morals; 



(c) Equitable and fair as between local fishermen and the inhab- 

 itants of the United States exercising the said treaty liberty and not 

 so framed as to give unfairly an advantage to the former over the 

 latter class. 



