420 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



ognized and well settled meaning as descriptive of those 

 portions of the Earth which owe political allegiance to His 

 Majesty; e. g. "His Britannic Majesty's Dominions beyond 

 the Seas/' 



4. It has been further contended by the United States 

 that the renunciation applies only to bays six miles 

 or less in width "inter fauces terrae," those bays 

 only being territorial bays, because the three mile 

 rule is, as shown by this Treaty, a principle of in- 

 ternational law applicable to coasts and should be 

 strictly and systematically applied to bays. 



But the Tribunal is unable to agree with this contention : 

 (a) Because admittedly the geographical character of a 

 bay contains conditions which concern the interests of the 

 territorial sovereign to a more intimate and important ex- 

 tent than do those connected with the open coast. Thus 

 conditions of national and territorial integrity, of defence, 

 of commerce and of industry are all vitally concerned with 

 the control of the bays penetrating the national coast line. 

 This interest varies, speaking generally in proportion to 

 the penetration inland of the bay; but as no principle of 

 international law recognizes any specified relation between 

 the concavity of the bay and the requirements for control 

 by the territorial sovereignty, this Tribunal is unable to 

 qualify by the application of any new principle its inter- 

 pretation of the Treaty of 1818 as excluding bays in gen- 

 eral from the strict and systematic application of the three 

 mile rule; nor can this Tribunal take cognizance in this 

 connection of other principles concerning the territorial 

 sovereignty over bays such as ten mile or twelve mile limits 

 of exclusion based on international acts subsequent to the 

 treaty of 1818 and relating to coasts of a different config- 

 uration and conditions of a different character; 



