ARGUMENT OF SIR WILLIAM ROBSON. 1773 



THIRTY-SECOND DAY: FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1910. 



The Tribunal met at 10 o'clock a. m. 



THE PRESIDENT: Will you please to continue, Mr. Attorney- 

 General ? 



THE ATTORNEY-GEXERAL, SIR WILLIAM ROBSON (resuming) : At 

 the adjournment, Sirs, I was dealing with the authorities on interna- 

 tional law who have laid down the principle that a State may charge 

 reasonable sums in respect of the accommodation that it affords, with- 

 out, of course, having had any specific request in that behalf, to ves- 

 sels which are using their right of innocent passage, or are availing 

 themselves of the accomodation in a particular country. 



I had read Grotius and Vattel, and I propose only to read one 

 more, because really there is no dispute on the principle, and I only 

 read the passages rather by way of indicating the ground upon which 

 international lawyers have placed this right. Azuni, who is very 

 well known to the Tribunal, writing, I think, in 1806, says : 



" Maritime nations have also a right to impose such contributions 

 and imposts on the territorial sea as they may judge necessary to de- 

 fray all the charges and expenses which the public security and the 

 convenience of navigation require. For this reason when, for the 

 purpose of rendering navigation secure and to aid mariners, light- 

 houses, buoys placed to point out sandbanks, and companies of coast 

 pilots are supported, a reasonable toll may be levied on all vessels, 

 without any infraction of natural law or the law of nations, like that 

 formerly exacted by the Romans in the Red Sea to reimburse the ex- 

 penses of the naval force which they maintained against the pirates." 



Of course there is no doubt about the general right to exact such 

 moderate and reasonable sums by way of payment for services. But 

 I draw attention to the principle upon which it is founded. They 

 may do it not merely in respect of lighthouses, but also for the pur- 

 pose of rendering navigation secure. These are matters which are of 

 vital concern not only to those who are on the waters in ships, but 

 also to those on land. 



Exactly the same principle applies to what I have called fiscal 

 defence. It is the same thing as military defence, though, of course, 

 operating in a different sphere. Just as, according to the universal 

 accord of international lawyers, you may take whatever steps are 

 necessary for your physical security, for military defence, so you 

 may take steps for that which is equally important. For instance, 

 when we were discussing the limitations that could be placed upon 

 the exercise of rights in a foreign territory, and we mentioned the 

 right of innocent passage one of the most important of those 

 rights it was pointed out that the state through whose territory the 

 ship is passing would be, by international law and the law of nations, 

 entitled to cause the ship to deviate at any particular place where 



