1114 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



ever. But they shall be under such restrictions as may be neces- 

 sary to prevent their taking, drying, or curing fish therein, or in any 

 other manner whatever abusing the privileges thereby reserved to 

 them." 



671 On the 19th of October the article was agreed to, and on 

 the 20th of October, 1818, the treaty was signed. 



If the Tribunal please, I desire to repeat what, perhaps, I stated 

 a day or two since, when I was not considering the renunciatory 

 clause of this article in detail, that if this renunciatory clause read 

 " on or within three marine miles of any of the coasts, bays, creeks, or 

 harbours within the British jurisdiction," or " within the British 

 limits," or " within the exclusive jurisdiction of Great Britain," or 

 " within the maritime limits of Great Britain," or " within the limits 

 of the British sovereignty," would there now exist, or would there 

 ever have existed, any doubt as to its meaning? 



Unquestionably the definite meaning attached to any of these terms 

 in the notes and discussions between the two Governments antedating 

 the meeting of the Commissioners would have attached when the 

 phrases were again used. 



The words " His Britannic Majesty's Dominions in America," were 

 the equivalents in all material and practical respects, leaving out for 

 the present legal distinctions, of any one of these other phrases. 



Without here digressing for the purpose of entering into a philo- 

 sophical and legal discussion of the various theories as to the nature 

 of the right of the bordering State over the waters adjacent to its 

 coasts, I wish to take the time to call the attention of the Tribunal 

 to the precise meaning of the term " dominion." 



" Dominion," or the word dominium denotes a property right in 

 the littoral sea. The word " sovereignty," or the word imperium, 

 denotes the right to exercise sovereignty over the littoral sea, and the 

 word " jurisdiction," or the word jurisdictio, signifies the right to 

 exercise jurisdiction, which is only one of the many functions of 

 sovereignty. 



The term " His Britannic Majesty's Dominions in America," as 

 against the terms " within the limits of British Sovereignty," and 

 " within the exclusive jurisdiction of Great Britain," if the negotia- 

 tors had these distinctions in mind, denoted the narrowest right in 

 respect of the extent of waters, although, philosophically and legally, 

 the most complete right, in respect of the nature of the right, in the 

 littoral sea. 



It is the submission of the United States, in regard to this re- 

 nunciatory clause, that it is not conceivable that the American Com- 

 missioners, instructed by the Secretary of State, that in case a fair 

 adjustment was not reached, " the British Government may be well 

 assured that not a particle of these rights will be finally yielded by 



