purposes, and that a State's rights under the 

 Submerged Lands Act were determined by its 

 domestic rather than by its international bound- 

 ary. 



It then considered the historic claims of the 

 Gulf States to individual domestic boundaries 

 beyond the international boundary of the United 

 States. 



With respect to the historic claim of Texas, the 

 court held that Texas entered the Union with a 

 boundary for domestic purposes three leagues 

 from the coast, which was entitled to recognition 

 under the Submerged Lands Act."" The court 

 rejected the contentions of Louisiana, Mississippi, 

 and Alabama that they were entitled to a maritime 

 belt of three leagues beyond the outermost islands, 

 and held that their boundaries were three miles 

 from the coast, with the islands to be treated 

 separately.^ ^ 



Florida had claimed that upon readmission into 

 the Union after the Civil War, Congress had 

 approved a provision of its new constitution 

 describing a boundary three leagues from land in 

 the Gulf of Mexico, accepted by the Congress on 



Florida's ratification of the 14th Amendment. The 

 Supreme Court held that this constituted congres- 

 sional approval of the three league boundary, 

 entitling Florida to the extended grant under the 

 Submerged Lands Act as to its Gulf Coast.'' ^ 



4. Convention on the Territorial Sea and the 

 Contiguous Zone 



Chronologically the next most important event 

 affecting United States seaward boundaries was 

 the Geneva Conference on the Law of the Sea, 

 held in 1958, which led to four Conventions that 

 have now been ratified by the United States. Of 

 them, the Convention on the Territorial Sea and 

 the Contiguous Zone^'' codified the rules for 

 determining the baseUne of the territorial sea. The 

 baseline is essentially the low-water line as shown 

 on official charts, and closing lines across the 

 mouths of rivers and bays. 



The Convention defines bays as well marked 

 indentations in the coast line whose area, as a 

 minimum, must equal the area of a semicircle 

 having a diameter equal to the closing line across 



''^United States V. Texas, 363 U.S. 1 (1960). 

 ''^United States y. Louisiana. 363 U.S. 1 (1960). 



''^United States V.Florida, 363 U.S. 121 (1960). 

 '■'iSU.S.T. (Paxt2) 1606. 



■■.•;•.■.•:::■ AREA AWARDED TO THE UNITED STATES, U.S. Y. LOUISIANA 

 ISEHiVlW A R E A AWARDED TO LOUISIANA. U.S. V. LOUISIANA 

 .,AREA PROPOSED OT THE UNITED STATES TO BE 



AWARDED TO LOUISIANA 

 — ••SEAWARD LIMIT OF LOUISIANA'S ALTERNATIVE CLAIM 



SEAWARD LIMIT OF LOUISIANA'S PRIMARY CLAIM 



Figure 4. Louisiana offshore areas awarded or claimed under the Submerged Lands Act. 

 (Source: U.S. Department of Justice) 



III-118 



