202 THE AKGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



since governed the practice and usage of nations. In his great work 

 De Dominio Maris, published in 1702, in chapter 2 (Opera Omnia, 

 edition 1767, II, p. 127), he stated: 



My opinion is that the territorial sea should extend only as far 

 as it can be considered subject to the mainland. Hence I concede no 

 further dominion over the territorial sea than that which can be 

 exercised from the land ; and there is no reason why a portion of the 

 sea under the control and power of a state should not be called its 

 property as well as any other body of water within its territory. It 

 is, therefore, right to extend the land power and the right of do- 

 minion and possession as far as the range of cannon. I speak of our 

 times, when cannons are in use; otherwise the general principle should 

 be: the sovereignty of the land ends where the force of arms ends 

 for this, as I said, is considered possession. 



Later publicists and jurists applied this rule potestatem terra 

 finiri, ubi finitur armorum vis and the test of a territorial bay, 

 universally accepted by nations, came to be whether or not the en- 

 trance could be defended from the shores, unless the nation, sovereign 

 of the surrounding shores, had long asserted an exclusive use and 

 such use had been acquiesced in by other nations. 



Vattel: Le Droit des Gens, published in 1758, citing from the 

 edition of Pradier-Fordere, 1863, vol. 1, section 291, p. 583 : 



All that we have stated regarding the parts of the sea which are 

 adjacent to the coasts applies more particularly and with greater 

 reason to roadsteads, bays, and straits, as being still more capable of 

 occupation and more important to the safety of the country. But I 

 speak of bays and straits of small extent, and not those large expanses 

 of sea to which these names are sometimes given, such as Hudsons 

 Bay and the Straits of Magellan, over which jurisdiction can not be 

 extended, and still less ownership. A bay of which the entrance can 

 be defended may be occupied and subjected to the laws of the sov- 

 ereign ; it is important that it should be so, since the country might be 

 more easily insulted in that place than on the coasts exposed to the 

 wind and to the impetuosity of the waves. 



G. F. de Martens : Precis du Droit des Gens moderne de VEurope, 

 published in Latin 1785, French 1788, citing from vol. 1, French 

 edition of Pinheiro-Ferreira, 1864: 



SEC. 40. What has been said about rivers and lakes (that they are 

 the property of the state) is equally applicable to straits and gulfs; 

 above all to those which do not exceed the ordinary width of rivers 

 or the double range of cannon. 



Likewise, a nation may assume an exclusive right over those neigh- 

 boring portions of the sea (mare proximum) susceptible of control 

 from the shore. Different opinions have been expressed upon the 

 distance to which the rights of the master of the shore extend. All 



