ABGUMENT OF ELIHU ROOT. 2019 



SENATOR ROOT: I would think that they were nobody's property. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: They are under the jurisdiction of the 

 territorial sovereign. 



SENATOR ROOT : They are within the special 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: They are within the territorial juris- 

 diction of the British sovereign ? 



D 



SENATOR ROOT: Yes. We did try very hard to establish the idea 

 of property in regard to fur seals, but Great Britain succeeded in 

 defeating us in it. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK : The right acquired was a right to take 

 fish from the water and reduce them into possession. 



SENATOR ROOT: The right we acquired was the right to have our 

 inhabitants take fish from the water. Of course, when the fish is 

 taken it becomes the property of the man who takes it. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: When it is reduced into possession it 

 becomes the property of the inhabitant of the United States who 

 takes it? 



SENATOR ROOT: Yes. 



THE PRESIDENT: Do you consider the right to be a right in com- 

 mon to the fishing territory between the United States and Great 

 Britain, or is it rather that the inhabitants of the United States 

 may take fish from British waters in common with the subjects of 

 Great Britain? 



SENATOR ROOT : It is a right in common of both States, because it 

 is a right held in common for the inhabitants or citizens of both. 

 They use the general expression that they shall have the liberty in 

 common. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: I thought you said that the property 

 in the fish, in so far as there can be property in it, and in so far as 

 it is in the territorial jurisdiction of England, would be vested in 

 British subjects, subject to your right. 



SENATOR ROOT : After the fish had been taken. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: But until such time as the fish are 

 taken, who has jurisdiction over the fish? 



SENATOR ROOT: Great Britain has jurisdiction over the water and 

 over the vessels and over the land. I do not know that they have 

 any jurisdiction over the fish. 



SIR CHARLES FITZPATRICK: And over the taking of the fish? 



SENATOR ROOT : Yes, it has over the person who takes the fish. 



THE PRESIDENT: Is there anything in the treaty which says that the 

 right of the United States and the right of Great Britain is a right 

 common to both States, so that the right of one State is equal to the 

 right of the other State according to the subject-matter? 



SENATOR ROOT: I think it follows necessarily from the fact that 

 the right which they have is expressed to be a common right. Great 



