42 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



Edward I., and John were originally written in French as they 

 now appear in the Black Book, or were at first drawn up in 

 Latin and translated into French by the compilers. 1 



The best authority is therefore in favour of the authenticity 

 of the ordinance ; but whether it be held as genuine or apocry- 

 phal there is no doubt that in the reign of Henry V. it was 

 incorporated among the official regulations of the Admiralty, 

 and it is almost as certain, as Twiss and Pardessus believe, that 

 it was contained in the Admiralty regulations in the reign of 

 Edward III. The question whether it should be antedated one 

 hundred and fifty years, or thereabout, and placed in the reign 

 of John, or ascribed to the time of Edward III., when so much 

 consideration was given to naval affairs, is perhaps of minor 

 importance. 



The language of the ordinance is worthy of close attention 

 with regard to the claim to sovereignty in the narrow sea. 

 Selden says that the ordinance shows it was held to be treason 

 for any ship whatever not to acknowledge the dominion of the 

 king of England in his own seas by lowering sails, and that the 

 king prescribed penalties for infraction of the rule, just as if a 

 crime were committed in some part of his territory on land. 2 

 In 1201 John still possessed both shores of the Channel, a cir- 

 cumstance which, according to the ideas of the time, conferred 

 on him special rights in regard to it ; and though the ordinance 

 contains no qualification of the general term "at sea," it is 

 probable that it applied in particular, and at first perhaps 

 exclusively, to the waters between the two shores. There is 

 nothing to show whether the ordinance applied to or was 

 enforced against the war vessels of other princes navigating 

 the narrow sea, which was the principal feature of the rule in 

 later times. From the terms used it is probable that it applied 

 only to merchant vessels, a supposition that agrees with its 

 place in the Black Book at the end of the articles entitled the 

 Laws of Oleron; or the laws of the mercantile marine ; and it 

 was to be enforced only in voyages appointed by the Council. 

 As already mentioned, it is reasonable to suppose that the 

 lowering of the sail at the demand of a king's ship was to 

 enable a suspected vessel to be overhauled, and the king's 



1 Collection des Lois Maritimes, i. Intro, pp. li, 129 ; iii. Intro, p. xi. 



2 Mare Clausum, lib. ii. c. xxvi. 



