•909.] ATLANTIC FISHERIES QUESTION. 351 



ada nor Newfoundland. The contracting parties to that treaty were 

 the American repubHc and the British empire. Of what use would 

 it be for these two sovereign members of the family of nations to 

 agree solemnly by treaty to define the respective rights of their sub- 

 jects in the Atlantic fisheries, if power was reserved to either party 

 by local legislation to completely nullify the plain and evident intent 

 of the treaty which recognizes that American fishing vessels pos- 

 sessed in those waters certain rights and privileges to catch fish that 

 the fishing vessels of all other nations do not possess under the 

 ordinary Law of Nations. As Vattel justly says, treaties are sacred 

 contracts between nations.'^'' 



The Brazilian jurist Calvo, after quoting in full the text of 

 article one of the Treaty of 1818, says of the purpose of this 

 article : '"^ 



Rien dans cet article ne permet d'inferer que la Grande-Bretagne ait 

 confere aux £tats-Unis le droit de peche. Ceux-ci n'ont fait que renoncer a 

 certains privileges, ce qui implique, de la part de I'Angleterre, que ces privi- 

 leges existaient et que les fitats-Unis ont uniquement cede une fraction de 

 leur droit souverain. La Grande-Bretagne n'a pas dit aux fitats-Unis : " Venez 

 seulement pour cliercher un abri ou faire de I'eau ou du bois," mais les fitats- 

 Unis disent a la Grande-Bretagne : " Nous, les proprietaires en commun de 

 ces pecheries consentons a ne pas prendre de poissons et a ne pas les secher 

 ou les saler dans c^ertaines limites, et a ne pas abuser d'ailleurs de privileges 

 qui nous sont concedes." 



And he goes on to say :^^ 



Jamais loi municipale ne saurait prevaloir sur une convention Internationale. 



The uselessness for members of the family of nations to make 

 certain agreements by formal treaty, if those agreements could be 

 nullified by the local legislation of a colony or province or state of 

 a party to the treaty contract seems self-evident. In the constitution 

 of the United States provision is made to insure the maintenance of 



" Vattel, " Le Droit des gens," Paris and Lyons, 1820, Vol. 11., p. 25. 



'" Charles Calvo, " Le Droit International Theorique et Pratique," cin- 

 quieme edition. Vol. I., Paris, 1896, pp. 486-487. 



" Charles Calvo, " Le Droit International Theorique et Pratique," cin- 

 quieme edition, Paris, 1896, Vol. I., pp. 487^-488. 



PROC. AMER. PHIL. SOC., Xl-VHI. I93 X, PRINTED JANUARY 5, I9IO. 



