94 ARGUMENT OF GEEAT BRITAIN. 



" It thus appears that the actual coast line of Maine, as known to 

 physical geography, following as it must the sinuosities defined by 

 the contact of the sea with the land, is about 4,000 kilometers, while 

 the political coast line superimposed upon it by operation of interna- 

 tional law, is vastly shorter by reason of the fact that the artificial 

 and imaginary line cuts across the heads of bays and inlets. The 

 natural coast line, as known to physical geography, exisits primarily 

 for the purposes of boundary. The artificial coast line, as known to 

 international law, exists only for the purposes of jurisdiction. That 

 obvious distinction is well illustrated by Rivier in his Principes du 

 Droit des Gens. Speaking of ''La mer littoralej he says : ' The name 

 territorial sea is applied to all the seas or portions of the sea which 

 belong to the territory : to the littoral sea, to the interior sea, in the 

 various acceptations of this word, to gulfs and straits. It is the 

 general and juridical term (le temne general et juridique), while the 

 others are rather physical or geographical (physiques ou geo- 

 graphiques} . The term littoral sea has the advantage of a special 

 meaning. They say also jurisdictional sea, after one of the elements 

 of the juridical situation of that part of the sea. 



" The principle that the littoral sea forms a part of the territory is 

 justified by the necessities of the preservation and security of the 

 state, from the point of view, military, sanitary, fiscal, as well as the 

 point of view of the interests of industry, specially of the right of 

 fishing. The result is, for the coast and for terra firma, the littoral 

 sea has the character of an accessory (le caractere d*un accessoire}, 

 and it cannot be taken independently of the coast (independamment 

 de la cote} . Speaking of 'Les Frontieres ' he says : ' I have spoken 

 already of the frontier of the sea,. and of that of the land. There 

 exist also special limits for the wants of administration because 

 107 the geographical and political frontier (la frontiere politique 

 et geoaraphique} do not always answer in a sufficient manner.' 

 The distinction thus clearly recognized between a geograpical and 

 political frontier is too obvious to require further illustration. 



" If the geographical frontier happens to be on the sea or ocean, it 

 is known as the coast, the point of contact between the sea water and 

 the land, upon which the political frontier is superimposed as an 

 accessory that can not be taken independently of the coast (et qu'on 

 ne saurait Vacquerir independamment de la cote}. That dependent 

 and accessorial frontier created by international law, solely for the 

 purposes of jurisdiction, is annexed only to the outer coast of a mari- 

 time state which it shortens by cutting across the heads of bays and 

 inlets, thus following what is called the general trend of the coast." 



" The artificial coast line created by international law for the pur- 

 poses of jurisdiction only, which, following the general trend of the 

 coast, cuts across the heads of bays and inlets is not involved in this 

 case in any form, for the simple reason that the outer coast, to which 

 it is exclusively an accessory, is not involved." 



Great Britain claims to draw the line from which the treaty limits 

 are to be measured from the headlands of all those tracts of water 

 which were known as bays, harbours, or creeks at the date of the 

 treaty. She does not claim to draw the line between every two points 

 of British territory. 



