1514 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



be a satisfactory authorization. And I will point out that this law, 

 in some form, has been in effect since 1792. If you turn to pp. 1300 

 and 1301, the citations at the bottom of the page show the statutes 

 from which they have come. They have not been traced down, but 

 in substance it would appear from these citations that the regulations 

 have been the same for upwards of a century. Mr. Root I think 

 asserted in his letter, and it was not contradicted, that they had been 

 the same since 1818. 



Take, for instance, p. 1300, section 4165 : 



" Xo vessel which is registered, pursuant to any law of the United 

 States, and which is seized or captured and condemned under the 

 authority of any foreign power, or which by sale becomes the prop- 

 erty of a foreigner, shall be entitled to or capable of receiving a new 

 register, notwithstanding such vessel shall afterwards become Ameri- 

 can property; but all such vessels shall be taken and considered, to 

 all intents and purposes, as foreign vessels. Nothing in this section 

 shall extend to or be construed to affect the person owning any vessel 

 at the time of the seizure or capture of the same, or his executor or 

 administrator, or shall prevent such owner or his executor or admin- 

 istrator, in case he regains a property in such vessel "- 



JUDGE GRAY : I think we may take it for granted your assertion is 

 correct about that about the antiquity. 



THE PRESIDENT: But please, Mr. Elder, suppose that case should 

 occur that has been referred to by Mr. Justice Gray, a repealing of 

 that law, to what would Great Britain be entitled ? 



MR. ELDER: I think it would be entitled to the assurance of the 

 United States Government in the form of registration, what is prac- 

 tically a passport, that the ownership of the vessel, the principal in 

 the transaction, was an inhabitant of the United States. 



THE PRESIDENT: Yes, but if the principle that only ships which 

 belong entirely to United States citizens was abandoned by United 

 States legislation, if a ship could fly the American flag if it were 

 only half the property of American citizens, and half the property 

 of foreigners, and if it were not necessary that the captain and others 

 must be American citizens, to what would Great Britain be entitled 

 then? 



MR. ELDER : I think Great Britain would be entitled to make diplo- 

 matic representation to the United States that its certificate or au- 

 thorization or passport to that vessel was not sufficient, that they 

 were no longer assured that the owner of the property, the vessel 

 that was assumed to exercise this treaty, was an inhabitant of the 

 United States, and I think they would be justified in pressing that to 

 the extreme point. 



THE PRESIDENT: Even to denying American fishermen the entry 

 into their waters, or what do you mean by the " extreme point ?" 



MR. ELDER : So long as the vessel carried a certificate of the United 

 States, the proper channel would be through diplomatic means. But 



