management riglits in case the title to the sub- 

 merged lands was found to be constitutionally 

 inalienable. 



The Act distinguishes among three areas or 

 classes of lands: (1) tidelands; (2) lands beneath 

 inland navigable waters; and (3) lands beneath 

 navigable waters within their boundaries. "Lands 

 beneath navigable waters" are defined as (a) beds 

 of nontidal navigable waters, up to the ordinary 

 high water line; (b) beds of tidal waters from the 

 mean high water Une seaward three geographical 

 miles from the coast Une (one geographical mile 

 equalled 6080.19781 feet at that time), and 

 beyond that limit to the State boundary if that 

 was farther seaward as approved by Congress or as 

 it existed when the State came into the Union; and 

 (c) all fUed-in, made, or reclaimed lands formerly 

 meeting the definitions above. However, the terms 

 "boundaries" and "lands beneath navigable 

 waters" were Umited to three miles from the 

 Atlantic or Pacific Coasts or three leagues (nine 

 geographical nules) in the Gulf of Mexico. 



The Act did not resolve the base line from 

 which a State claiming a three-mile seaward 

 boundary was to measure that boundary. It 

 provides that the term "coastline" means the line 

 of ordinary low water along the coast in direct 

 contact with the open sea and the line marking the 

 seaward limit of the inland waters, but left to 

 judicial interpretation how that line would be 

 determined. 



The United States retains its navigational 

 servitude and the rights in and powers of regula- 

 tion and control of the lands beneath the navigable 

 waters for purposes of commerce, navigation. 

 National defense, and international affairs. 



2. The Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act 



Two-and-a-half months after the Submerged 

 Lands Act was passed, the Congress enacted the 

 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which retains 

 full Federal authority over areas seaward of the 

 "lands beneath navigable waters" disposed of by 

 the Submerged Lands Act. The Act specifically 

 preserves the character of the waters over the 

 seabed and sub-soil of this area as high seas, asserts 

 the jurisdiction of the United States over the 

 Outer Continental Shelf and extends the Constitu- 

 tion, laws, and civil and poUtical jurisdiction of the 

 United States to the Outer Continental Shelf and 



to artificial islands and structures erected on the 

 shelf to exploit or remove resources. 



State laws as of the date of enactment of the 

 Act are adopted as Federal law for the shelf 

 opposite each State, but are to be administered by 

 Federal officials and courts, and are not the basis 

 for a State claiming any interest or jurisdiction 

 over the Outer Continental Shelf. 



The adoption of State laws as they existed 

 when the Act was passed gives a static quality to 

 the Act that may prove nettlesome as State laws 

 develop in the future, and require amendment to 

 the basic Act. 



Fearing that a claim of territorial sovereignty 

 over the Outer Continental Shelf would be mis- 

 understood and lead other nations to claim sover- 

 eignty not only over the shelf but over the 

 superjacent waters, the United States has not 

 asserted "sovereignty" over the shelf, but only 

 claims that the shelf "appertains to" it and is 

 subject to its jurisdiction, control, and power of 

 disposition. 



3. The Second Louisiana Case 



While the Submerged Lands Act clarified some 

 issues in previous litigation, wide disagreement 

 remained between the United States and certain 

 States as to what had been granted to those States 

 by the Submerged Lands Act. Shortly after enact- 

 ment, the Submerged Lands Act was declared 

 constitutional, under the absolute power of 

 Congress to dispose of Federal property under 

 Article IV, Section 3, Clause 2, of the Constitu- 

 tion.' ° 



In the second Louisiana case the Supreme 

 Court sustained the U.S. argument that the Sub- 

 merged Lands Act did not make an outright grant 

 of three leagues to any State, but rather granted 

 nothing beyond three miles except where a Gulf 

 State could establish that its boundary was more 

 than three miles from the coast when it joined the 

 Union, or as approved by Congress before May 22, 

 1953. The court held that boundaries in the sea, 

 unlike land boundaries, may be in different places 

 for different purposes, and concluded that for 

 domestic purposes a State could have a boundary 

 farther seaward than its boundary for international 



^"Alabama v. Texas, Rhode Island v. Louisiana, 347 

 U.S. 272(1954). 



III-117 



