NORTH ATLANTIC FISHERIES DISPUTE 5 



From time to time, seizures were made, but little trouble occurred until 

 the passage by the legislature of Nova Scotia of the 'Hovering Act.' 

 This Act, passed in 1836, provided penalties for hovering within three 

 miles of the coasts or harbours. 



Between 1818 and 1854, forty-three vessels were seized. Until 1841, 

 the British construction of the treaty respecting the headland question 

 and the right to piirchase bait and supplies, or to tranship cargoes, was 

 practically unprotested by the United States. In 1841, the United 

 States Minister at London complained of the application of the headland 

 rule and of the severity of the Nova Scotia statutes relatijig to the pro- 

 tection of the fisheries. The Government of Nova Scotia regarded with 

 great anxiety the possibility of any relaxation of the regulations or the 

 abandonment of any of their contentions. They requested that a series 

 of questions respecting the points at issue be submitted to the legal 

 advisers of the Home Government. 



The Law Officers of the Crown replied that: 



(1) Citizens of the United States had no rights other than those 

 ceded to them by the Convention of 1818. 



(2) Except within certain defined limits, they were excluded from 

 fishing within three miles of the coast of British America and that the 

 three miles was to be measured from a line drawn from headland to 

 headland — the "extreme points of land next the sea of the coast or of 

 the entrance of the bays ... we are of the opinion that the term head- 

 land is used in the treaty* to express the part of the land we have before 

 mentioned, excluding the interior of the bays and the inlets of the coast." 



(3) No foreign country had the right to use or navigate the gut of 

 Canso. 



(4) American citizens had "no right to land or conduct the fishery 

 from the shores of the Magdalen islands. ' ' 



(5) "The liberty of entering the bays and harbours of Nova Scotia, 

 for the purpose of purchasing wood and obtaining water, is conceded 

 in general terms, unrestricted by any restrictions, expressed or implied." 



Of the foregoing, the most prominent point of difference was what 

 is known as the "headland" controversy, referred to in answer IT of the 

 Hague Tribunal decision. 



By Art. I of the Convention of 1818, the United States renounced 

 the liberty "to take, dry or cure fish on or within three marine miles 

 of any of the coasts, bays, creeks or harbours" not included within cer- 

 tain specified limits. The colonists claimed that United States fishermen 

 were excluded from all bays, such as the bay of Fundy, Chaleur bay, 



*This is an error on the part of the Law Officers. The word 'headland' does 

 not appear in the treaty. 



