QUESTION THREE. 



Can the exercise ~by the inhabitants of the United States of the 

 liberties referred to in the said article be subjected without the con- 

 sent of the United States, to the requirements of entry or report at 

 custom- houses, or the payment of light, or harbor, or other dues, or 

 to any other similar requirement, or condition, or exaction? 



SCOPE AND MEANING OF THE QUESTION. 



The British Case states the issues raised by the foregoing Question 

 thus : a 



The " liberties " referred to in this question are : 



1. Liberty to " take fish " on certain coasts, bays, harbours, and 

 creeks; and 



2. Liberty to " dry and cure fish " in certain unsettled bays, har- 

 bours and creeks that is, upon the shore. 



3. In addition to these two liberties, the United States asserts that 

 its fishermen are entitled to have, for their fishing vessels, the same 

 commercial privileges as are accorded by agreement or otherwise to 

 United States trading vessels generally. 



The question then seems to be whether United States fishing vessels 

 are entitled to frequent British coasts, bays, creeks, and even har- 

 bours, to land upon British territory, and (if the United States con- 

 tention be correct) to exercise all the privileges accorded to trading 

 vessels, and yet be exempt from the supervision which all nations 

 exercise over all vessels (not only foreign but their own) coming into 

 their harbours and discharging upon their territory ; and exempt also 

 from contribution to the up-keep of lights necessary to the navigation 

 of the waters. 



This statement is lacking in that precision which should be em- 

 ployed in stating the issues presented in this case, a lack of precision 

 which it has been necessary to notice in dealing with the other 

 Questions presented to this Tribunal. The United States has never 

 asserted, and does not now assert, that commercial privileges for 

 its fishing vessels constitute any part of "the liberties referred to 



British Case, 61. 



97 



