1052 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



was the limit of territorial waters, and that beyond the reach of 

 cannon-shot universal use in the sea was presumed. 



If the Tribunal please, these decisions just preceded these negotia- 

 tions of 1806, and had a most important bearing on the question of 

 the recognition of the extent of the maritime jurisdiction by Great 

 Britain and upon the claims of Great Britain, as expressed in the 

 notes from Lord Bathurst and from Lord Castlereagh which have 

 been read to the Tribunal, and in the interview between Mr. Adams 



and Lord Bathurst. 

 633 At p. 163, 3 Robinson's Reports, Lord Stowell, then, of 



course, Sir William Scott, stated : 



" Upon the question so proposed, the first fact to be determined is, 

 the character of the place where the capturing ship lay ; whether she 

 was actually stationed within those portions of land and water, or of 

 something between water and land, which are considered to be within 

 the limits of the Prussian territory? On this point, I am inclined to 

 think, on an inspection of the charts, and on hearing what has been 

 urged, that she was lying within the limits, to which neutral immu- 

 nity is usually conceded. She was lying in the Eastern branch of 

 the Eems, within what may I think be considered as a distance of 

 three miles, at most, from East Friesland: an exact measurement 

 cannot easily be obtained ; but in a case of this nature, in which the 

 Court would not willingly act with an unfavourable minuteness to- 

 wards a neutral state, it will be disposed to calculate the distance very 

 liberally; and more especially, as the spot in question is a sand cov- 

 ered with water only on the flow of the tide, but immediately con- 

 nected with the land of East Friesland, and when dry, may be con- 

 sidered as making part of it." 



And at p. 339 of the same report, Sir William Scott, in the other 

 Twee Gebroeders Case which I have just cited, said : 



" In the sea, out of the reach of cannon shot, universal use is pre- 

 sumed. In rivers flowing through conterminous states, a common 

 use to the different states is presumed. Yet, in both of these, there 

 may, by legal possibility, exist a peculiar property, excluding the 

 universal or the common use. Portions of the sea are prescribed for ; 

 so are rivers flowing through contiguous states ; the banks on one side 

 may have been first settled, by which the possession and property 

 may have been acquired, or cessions may have taken place upon con- 

 quests, or other events. But the general presumption certainly bears 

 strongly against such exclusive rights, and the title is a matter to be 

 established, on the part of those claiming under it, in the same man- 

 ner as all other legal demands are to be substantiated, by clear and 

 competent evidence." 



If the Tribunal please, without an assertion of any jurisdiction 

 over bodies of water, other than a statement that the maritime limits 

 extend 3 marine miles from shore, how is Great Britain going to 

 establish, as against the people of the United States, a title to bodies 

 of water known to geographers or to the people of the locality as 

 bays? 



