1222 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



At p. 246 of vol. I he states : 



" It is generally admitted that such gulfs and bays as are enclosed 

 by the land of one and the same riparian state, and whose entrance 

 from the sea is narrow enough to be commanded by coast batteries 

 erected on one or both sides of the entrance, belong to the territory of 

 the riparian state, even if the entrance is wider than two marine 

 leagues, or six miles." 



This statement is clearly based upon the increased range of shore 

 batteries, for on p. 241 the author states : 



" With regard to the breadth of the maritime belt various opinions 

 have in former times been held and very exorbitant claims have been 

 advanced by different states, and although Bynkershoek's rule that 

 terrce potestas finitur ubi finitur armorum vis is now usually recog- 

 nized by theory and practice and consequently a belt of such breadth 

 is considered under the sway of the riparian state as is within effec- 

 tive range of the shore batteries, there is still no unanimity on ac- 

 count of the fact that such range is day by day increasing. Since at 

 the end of the 18th century the range of artillery was about three 

 miles or one marine league, that distance became generally recognized 

 as the breadth of the maritime belt ; but no sooner was the common 

 doctrine originated than the range of projectiles increased with the 

 manufacture of heavier guns, and although many states and munici- 

 pal laws and international treaties still adhere to a breadth of one 

 marine league, the time will come when by a common agreement of 

 the states such breadth will be very much extended." 



Professor Oppenheim then makes it very clear on p. 247, that no 

 bay belongs exclusively to the territory of the riparian state whose 

 entrance is so wide that it cannot be commanded by coast batteries, 

 in the absence of specific assertion of and acquiescence in exclusive 

 jurisdiction. 



" Gulfs and baj^s, surrounded by the land of one and the same 

 riparian state, whose entrance is so wide that it cannot be com- 

 manded by coast batteries, and further, all gulfs and bays enclosed 

 by the land of more than one riparian state, however narrow their 

 entrance may be, are non-territorial. They are parts of the open 

 sea, the marginal belt inside the gulfs and bays excepted. They can 

 never be appropriated, and they are, in time of peace and war, open 

 to vessels of all nations, including men-of-war." 



Sir Robert Finlay read an extract from Grotius in order to show 

 that any body of water, large or small, indenting the territory of a 

 country was necessarily a part of the territory of the State possessing 

 the surrounding land. Counsel in the report of his argument at 

 p. 251 stated: 



" I shall submit that that assertion of one of the great writers on 

 international law there strikes the true note in what he says as to the 

 proportion of the inlet to the land which surrounds it. Where you 

 have a very deep inlet with a comparatively narrow entrance, such 

 an inlet may reasonably be considered as belonging to the territory 

 by which it is surrounded where that territory belongs to one nation 

 or country." 



