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APPENDIX BTO STATEMENT OF 
NORTHCUTT ELY 
THE LEGISLATIVE HISTORY (OR 'TRAVAUX PREPARA Com 
OF THE 1958 CONVENTION ON THE CONTINENTAL SHELF— 
The background and history of the Convention comprises primarily 
these events: 
2/ 
On September 28, 1945, President Truman signed a proclamation— 
whose operative language read: 
", . the United States regards the natural resources of the subsoil 
and the sea bed of the continental shelf beneath the high seas but con- 
tiguous to the coasts of the United States, as appertaining to the United 
States, subject to its jurisdiction and control."' 
_ The reasons he gave were these: 
".. . the exercise of jurisdiction over the natural resources of the 
subsoil and sea bed of the continental shelf by the contiguous nation 
is reasonable and just, since the effectiveness of measures to utilize 
or conserve these resources would be contingent upon cooperation and 
protection from the shore, since the continental shelf may be regarded 
as an extension of the land-mass of the coastal nation and thus naturally 
appurtenant to.it, since these resources frequently form a seaward ex- 
tension of a pool or deposit lying within the territory, and since self- 
protection compels the coastal nation to keep close watch over activ- 
ities off its shores which are of the nature necessary for the utiliza- 
tion of these resources. "' 
President Truman's proclamation did not relate these reasons to any 
specified depth of water. At that time, except for wells drilled from piers 
off California, no offshore well was in production in this country. The first 
one was brought in, in 50 feet of water, in Louisiana, in 1947. 
. Some two score nations quickly followed suit with proclamations of 
offshore jurisdiction. 
1/ The writer is indebted to Luke W. Finlay, Cecil J. Olmstead, and Oliver 
L. Stone for access to their research materials in preparing this appendix on 
legislative history, and the following appendix on national practice. A more 
complete account appears in the Report of the National Petroleum Council's 
Committee on Petroleum Resources Under the Ocean Floor, March 1969. 
2/ The Truman Proclamation of September 28, 1945, titled ''Policy of the United 
States with respect to Natural Resources of the Subsoil and Seabed of the Conti- 
nental Shelf, '' 10 Fed. Reg. 12303. 
