QUESTION FIVE. 209 



by the same principles as those which we have just established for 

 inner harbors and roadsteads. 



Pradier-Fodere ; Traite de Droit International Public, published 

 in 1885, vol. 2, Sec. 661. 



* The rule generally expressed and moreover observed by 

 all states is that bays and gulfs are unquestionably a part of the 

 territorial sea unless they have such an extent that it is impossible 

 to defend their entrance from the shore. All the curvatures sur- 

 rounded by the lands of a single state when their width does not 

 exceed the double range of a cannon shot or when their entrance may 

 be controlled by artillery, or when they are naturally defended by 

 islands, lakes, or rocks, are considered as constituting a part of the 

 adjacent state and as accessories to the land. " In all cases, says 

 Ortolan, " it is correct to say that these gulfs and bays are within 

 the territory of the state that is master of the lands which surround 

 them." It has the physical power to continuously operate within 

 these waters; except for conventions either express or tacit it may 

 exclude ships of war of every other state from it, and this right is 

 based upon the reciprocal independence of peoples which author- 

 ized them to judge for themselves of the manner in which this right 

 is to be exercised. We may add to these reasons justifying the 

 right of sovereignty of the state over gulfs and bays, the considera- 

 tion that these indentations form a safe anchorage, because the ad- 

 jacent coasts break the currents and waves and shelter vessels against 

 the impetuosity of the winds. So that ships which anchor there 

 are under the protection of the shores and consequently under the 

 protection of their sovereign, whose sovereignty they must recognize 

 as soon as they place themselves under its control. Thus, bays and 

 gulfs are considered as comprised within the domain of the territo- 

 rial sovereign if their extent is not such that it is impossible to 

 defend their entrance from the shore, in other words if they may 

 be defended either by maritime force, by the cross fire of cannons 

 placed at their entrance, or naturally by rocks, sand-banks, islands, 

 etc. But the principle of the liberty of the seas is not to be modified 

 with reference to bays and gulfs of wide extent. We must apply 

 to them the principles set forth with reference to the territorial sea. 



Testa: Le Droit Public International Maritime, published in Portu- 

 guese, citing from the French edition, 1886, p. 67 et seq. s 



Gulfs and Bays. The considerations above advanced apply equally 

 to gulfs and bays whose shores belong to the same power when the 

 entrance or mouth is not so wide as to be unable to be commanded 

 by the crossfire of artillery, or when they are naturally defended 

 by islands, banks or reefs, which render their permanent or effective 

 possession possible. 



We must, therefore, except from this category gulfs and bays of 

 wide extent, which, in spite of their names, which they derive from 

 their geographical configuration, are portions of the high seas. Here 

 we include the Gulf of Biscay, the Gulf of Guinea, of Lyon, etc., 

 which by their condition cannot be subjected to the jurisdic- 

 tion, much less to the property of the state whose shores they 

 wash. * * * 



