1640 NORTH ATLANTIC COAST FISHERIES ARBITRATION. 



making it read like that, if that is what they intended. So that the 

 use of the word " liberty " is the first indication that there is here to 

 be no transfer of sovereign power. 



Well now, Mr. Turner makes a very good fight over this word. 

 First of all he has to get rid of the word. And so, in order to get rid 

 of the word, he gets what he says is a synonym, and then having got 

 the other word, which is the exact equivalent of that which he has 

 disposed of, he proceeds to read into the substituted word the mean- 

 ing which does not belong to the other. "Liberty," he says, is a 

 franchise, and now what is a franchise? and thereupon proceeds to 

 give to " franchise " the meaning which he would not dare to ascribe 

 to the word " liberty." But, I would ask also : What is a franchise ? 



It would be most inappropriate to speak of conferring a franchise 

 upon all the inhabitants of a country. A franchise is a privilegium 

 granted to particular persons, giving them some benefit over and 

 above the benefit common to other subjects under the same law. A 

 franchise is a special privilege, of course a phrase perfectly well 

 understood in municipal law in England, in private law, but one 

 never heard of the word " franchise " being used in reference to a 

 whole community, that is to say, to every person in it. 



However, what does " liberty " mean ? It means simply permission. 

 I am here quoting from Webster's Dictionary. " Permission or leave, 

 as liberty granted to a child to play, or to a witness to leave the 

 Court." 



And then, again, in the " New Century," " Permission granted as 

 by a superior to do something that one might not otherwise do." 



Well, I think, perhaps it is sufficient to say that a liberty is the 

 exercise of a power by a superior authority giving some advantage 

 or benefit to another person. It is an exercise of jurisdiction, and it 

 is a word wholly inappropriate to convey the idea of a transfer or 



conveyance of jurisdiction. 



992 I think, after all, the word " liberty " is quite understood to 

 mean something less than such a grant as the United States 

 seek now to make it. 



Well, to whom is it given? That is the next step. And every 

 word of the treaty here makes a barrier to the United States, every 

 word. The word " liberty " makes one barrier in its way. The 

 phrase " inhabitants of the United States " also makes an insuperable 

 difficulty. 



Why is the liberty given to the inhabitants of the United States? 

 Because it is to be held in common with British subjects, that is to say, 

 to be under British jurisdiction. 



The Government of the United States could not accept such a 

 liberty. A Government, or a corporate body, can accept nothing ex- 

 cept some share in the ownership. That is all it can accept. And, 



