APPENDIX 439 



their jurisdiction upon reasons which go always back to the 

 doctrine of protection. Lord BLACKBURN, one of the most 

 eminent of English Judges, in delivering the opinion of 

 the Privy Council about Conception Bay in Newfound- 

 land, adhered to the same doctrine when he asserted the 

 territoriality of that branch of the sea, giving as a reason 

 for such finding "that the British Government for a long 

 period had exercised dominion over this bay and its claim 

 had been acquiesced in by other nations, so as to show 

 that the bay had been for a long time occupied exclusively 

 by Great Britain, a circumstance which, in the tribunals 

 of any country, would be very important." "And more- 

 over," he added, "the British Legislature has, by Acts 

 of Parliament, declared it to be part of the British terri- 

 tory, and part of the country made subject to the legisla- 

 tion of Newfoundland." (Direct U. S. Cable Co. v. The 

 Anglo-American Telegraph Co., Law Reports, 2 Appeal 

 Cases, 374). 



So it may be safely asserted that a certain class of bays, 

 which might be properly called the historical bays such 

 as Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay in North America 

 and the great estuary of the Eiver Plate in South America, 

 form a class distinct and apart and undoubtedly belong 

 to the littoral country, whatever be their depth of penetra- 

 tion and the width of their mouths, when such country 

 has asserted its sovereignty over them, and particular cir- 

 cumstances such as geographical configuration, immemorial 

 usage and above all, the requirements of self-defense, jus- 

 tify such a pretension. The right of Great Britain over 

 the bays of Conception, Chaleur and Miramichi are of this 

 description. In what refers to the other bays, as might 

 be termed the common, ordinary bays, indenting the coasts, 

 over which no special claim or assertion of sovereignty has 

 been made, there does not seem to be any other general 

 principle to be applied than the one resulting from the 



