( 



153 



ftntlioiitic^ whicli soiiglit from that circumstanrff to extend the realm of Kngland 

 over the whole ocean, the Lord Chief Justice says : — 



" TlicHi' ii-^-Jcrtiniis of snvcreipnty wcro ninnifestly Imscd «u tin; ilnttrino that tlio narrow seas nrP 

 purl III' till' IT. iliii III' Kin,'liui(l. hut that iluclriiiu i.s now cxiiluiliil. Wlio iit this ilay would venture 

 tDalliiiii iliiil Ihc! .sovLTfif,'iity thus assorted in those times now exists '. What Knglish lawyer is tliere 

 wild wiiiild nut shrink IVum uiaiiitainin;;, what foreij,'n jurist who would not deny, what t'oreij,'u govern- 

 iiient wjiiili would imt rcjiid surh a jjretcnsion !" 



Ill wliat |)()ssil)lo way this language can be made to bear upon the present 

 inquiry, Her Majesty's (Jovernment are at a loss to understand. 



Sir RohiTt Pliillimore, one of the Judges who agreed with the Lord Chie 

 Justice in the conclusion that the conviction ought not to stand, was equally careful 

 to put till! consideration of the law governing bays and inland waters out of the 

 case. He says (page 71) : — 



"The ((lies! ion as to dominion over portions of tlio sons inclosed within headlands, or contiguous 

 ghoro, siioh us the King's Ciiambers, is vol nnw nmhr lunxidiT'tiion." 



The King's Chambers referred to by Sir Robert Phillimore are themselves well- 

 known bays or inland waters on the English coast, inclosed within headlands, 

 many of ttiein as large or larger at the mouths than are the bays of Miramichi or 

 Chaleurs. 



It is conlldontly claimed by Her Majesty's Government that the case of the 

 '" Frantoni;i,'" s, " >• from affording any support to the Answer of the United States, 

 is an !uitliority in favour of the right of Her Majesty to exercise sovereign and 

 exclusivo jurisdiction over all "bays" and other inland waters lying on the coast 

 of IJritisli Aiiu'iica, inclosed with headlands, bo the distance between such head- 

 lands what it may. 



A subsequent case directly in point and containing an interpretation of the 

 verji word in the very Instrument now under discussion, has been decided by the 

 Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, the highest Appellate Court in the realm 

 in relatin;) to all British Colonial matters, as lately as the 14th February, 1877. 

 The caso is lliat of The Direct United States Cable Company (Limited), Appel- 

 lants V. Tlifl Amjlo-Amerirnn Telegraph Company (Limited) and others Respondents, 

 reported in tiie I^aw Reports Appeal cases, vol. ii, page 394. The suit 

 was one in which the Respondent Company had obtained an injunction against the 

 Appellant Company restraining them from laying a telegraph cable in Conception 

 Bay, Newfoundland, and thereby infringing rights granted by the Legislature of 

 that islan;l to the Respondent Company. The Appellant Company contended that 

 Conception Bay (which is rather more than twenty miles wide at its mouth and 

 runs inland between forty an<l fifty miles) was not British territorial waters, but a 

 part of the high seas. The buoy and cables complained of were laid within the 

 bay at a distance of more than three miles from the shore. The contention of the 

 Respondent Company was not sustained, and the injunction was retained. The 

 Judgment of tiie Judicial Committee was delivered by Lord Blackburn, and the 

 attention of tlie Commission is directed to the following quotation from the Judg- 

 ment, wliich, so far as judicial interpretation can affect that object, must be held to 

 set the question at rest: — 



" JJel'ore proi-i'i'ding to discuss the second ([uestion, it is desirable to state the facts wliich 

 raise it. 



" Couccption liay lies on the eastern side cjf Xewtbundland, between two promontories, the 

 soutliern ending at ('a]iu St. Krancis, and the northern i)romontory at Split Point. No evidence has 

 lieen giv(Mi, nor was any required, as to the uontiguratiou and dimensions of the hay, as tliat was a 

 matter of wliich tlie (Jourt could take judicial notice. 



" On ins|U'ition of the Admiralty chart, the following statement, though not precisely accurate, 

 seems to the r J.ordsiiips sutliciently so to enable them to decide the question : — 



" The hay is a well-marked bay, the distance from the head of the bay to Cape St. Francis being 

 about forty miles, and the distance from the head of the bay to Split I'oint being about fifty miles. 

 Tlie average width of the bay is about fifteen miles, Init the distance from Cape St. Francis to Split 

 I'oint is rather more than twenty miles. 



" The A]i|icllantshiiv(! brought and laid a telegrajih cable to a buoy more than thirty miles within 

 this bay. Tlie buoy is more than three miles from the .shore of the bay, and in laying the cable, care 

 ha.s been taken not at any point to come within three miles of the shore, so as to avoid raising any 

 question as to the territorial dominion over the ocean within tliree miles of the .shore. Their Lordships 

 therefore are not called upon to exjiress any ojiinion on the ([uescions which were recently so much 

 discus.sed in the ca.se of the (ilueen i: Keyn (the ' Franconia ' case). 



"The (lue.'itii 11 nii.sed in Ihi.s ca.se, and to which their Lordships confine their judgment, is as to 



