214 THE ARGUMENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



armed fleet, it is by practice, since the introduction of firearms, 

 identified with that distance over which a nation can command obedi- 

 ence to its empire by the fire of its cannon. That distance, by con- 

 sent, is now taken to be a maritime league seaward along all the 

 coast of the nation. Beyond the distance of a sea league from its 

 coasts the territorial laws of a nation are, strictly speaking, not 

 operative. 



Calvo: Le Droit International Theorique et Pratique, published 

 in 1868, French edition of 1896, section 356 : 



From these general principles it is easy to draw the conclusion that 

 territorial waters should include only the space capable of being 

 defended from the mainland or as serving as a base for attacks on the 

 adjacent coast. Since the invention of fire arms this space has gener- 

 ally been limited to three nautical miles from the shore line at low 

 tide. In this zone the exercise of territorial sovereignty is absolute, 

 uncontested and exclusive of the rights of all other nations. 



Hall, in his Treatise on International Law, published in 1880 

 (citing from the fifth edition, 1904, page 154) , said : 



In any case the custom of regarding a line three miles from land 

 as defining the boundary of the marginal territorial waters is so far 

 fixed that a state must be supposed to accept it in the absence of 

 express notice that a larger extent is claimed. 



Pradier-Fodere : Traite de Droit International Public, published 

 in 1885, vol. 2, section 631 : 



As a matter of fact, the question of the extent of the territorial sea 

 is established by the usage of states and by conventions. Thus, a 

 common usage has established the range of cannon shot as denoting 

 the space designated by the name territorial sea. and this custom has 

 been fixed by laws and regulations of many states as. well as by con- 

 ventional law. We may, therefore, consider the formula of Bynker- 

 shoek that the soverenity of the land ends where the force of arms 

 ends as having to-day become the general rule of international law. 



SEC. 633. If the distance of three geographical miles, calculated 

 from low-water mark, in a way forms accepted law, nothing prevents 

 states from fixing, among themselves, by treaty, a different limit to 

 the territorial sea. But the extent thus fixed is clearly only obliga- 

 tory upon the contracting parties, and other powers not parties to 

 the treaty, or who have not admitted it, remain subject to the com- 

 mon law. 



Fiore: Le Droit International Codifie, published in 1890, sec- 

 tion 205 : 



The territorial sea embraces the waters washing the coast of a state 

 to a distance determined by the necessities of defense, by the need of 

 guaranteeing the security of the territory and safeguarding the inter- 

 ests of the commerce of the state. By customary law the territorial 

 sea extends to three miles from low water mark. 



