676 THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE SEA 



all navigation. All vessels within the territorial waters are 

 likewise subject to the control of the customs authorities, 

 while in Sweden the Customs Law of 1877 extends jurisdiction 

 to a distance of one Swedish league from the base-line. The 

 Government does not rest its claim to so large an extent of the 

 bordering sea merely on the principle which is usually held to 

 determine its bounds the range of cannon fire, though it is 

 pointed out that the Norwegian boundary is in reality more 

 in conformity with the range of modern artillery than is the 

 three-mile limit. They argue, very truly, that the zone of one 

 marine league, although adopted in conventions between several 

 Powers, has not been definitely established in international 

 law, and they have themselves always refused to agree to a 

 limit so narrow. But the principal reasons advanced are those 

 of necessity and utility. The Norwegian coast is peculiarly 

 irregular. It is engirdled by a multitude of islands, reefs, and 

 rocks, and is broken up by numerous fjords which penetrate 

 deeply into the land. A three-mile limit applied to such a 

 coast on the principle adopted in the North Sea Convention 

 would be intricate, confusing, and impracticable. The boun- 

 dary would be exceedingly irregular, and patches and strips 

 of extra-territorial water of the most diverse size and form 

 would be intermingled with the territorial water; and in 

 practice it would be extremely difficult or impossible for 

 foreign fishermen to observe the complicated boundary, or 

 for the authorities to enforce it. Constant disputes would 

 result. 



Another reason put forward is a moral one. The country 

 is comparatively sterile ; the climate is rigorous ; the people 

 are poor, and the fisheries are of the utmost importance for 

 their maintenance. A large proportion of the population 

 derive, and have always derived, their livelihood from the 

 sea, " with which they wage a desperate war in the darkness 

 and tempests of winter and spring to gain their daily bread." l 

 It is therefore only just that this natural source of food along 

 their coasts should be conserved as much as possible, so long 

 as the manifest rights of other nations are not violated, and 

 that the poor native fishermen, pursuing a hard and laborious 

 calling, which necessity has imposed on them, should be pro- 



1 Auber, loc. cit. 



