cxxxviii INTRODUCTION 



Britain and France would be bound by this assertion of jurisdiction. 

 It is sufl&cient for the present case to state that the acquiescence of Great 

 Britain in the assertion of jurisdiction over Delaware Bay, by the United 

 States, binds Great Britain, and that so far as it is concerned the juris- 

 diction of the United States over Delaware Bay is established. The 

 assertion in this case was diplomatic, not by municipal ordinance or 

 decree. 



Coimsel for Great Britain laid great stress upon the case of the 

 Direct United States Cable Company v. Anglo-American Telegraph 

 Company (2 Appeal Cases, 394), decided in 1877 before the Judicial 

 Committee of the Privy Council. The case involved Conception Bay 

 on the non-treaty coast of Newfoundland, the average width of which 

 is about fifteen miles and which enters Newfoundland for a distance of 

 some forty or fifty miles. Lord Blackburn discussed the question of 

 jurisdiction in the light of international law, saying: 



"It seems generally agreed that where the configuration and dimensions of the 

 bay are such as to show that the nation occupying the adjoining coasts also occupies 

 the bay it is part of the territory; and with this idea most of the writers on the subject 

 refer to defensibility from the shore as the test of occupation; some suggesting there- 

 fore a width of one cannon shot from shore to shore, or three miles; some a cannon shot 

 from each shore, or six miles; some an arbitrary distance of ten miles. All these are 

 rules which, if adopted, would exclude Conception Bay from the territory of Newfound- 

 land." 1 



He then eliminated as unnecessary to the decision the question of 

 international law, stating that 



"It seems to them that, in point of fact, the British Government has for a long 

 period exercised dominion over this bay, and that their claim has been acquiesced in 

 by other nations, so as to show that the bay has been for a long time occupied exclu- 

 sively by Great Britain, a circumstance which in the tribunals of any country would 

 be very important. And moreover (which in a British tribunal is conclusive), the 

 British Legislature has by Acts of Parliament declared it to be part of the British 

 territory, and part of the country made subject to the Legislature of Newfoundland. 



"To establish this proposition, it is not necessary to go further back than to the 

 59 Geo. 3, c. 38, passed in 1819, now nearly sixty years ago. . . . 



"And as this assertion of dominion has not been questioned by any nation from 

 1819 down to 1872, when a fresh convention was made, this would be very strong 

 in the tribunals of any nation to show that this bay is by prescription part of the 

 exclusive territory of Great Britain. As already observed, in a British tribunal it is 

 decisive." ' 



The act specifically referred to is the Act of 181 9, passed by Parlia- 

 ment to put into effect the Convention of 181 8 and to secure to American 



' Law Reports, Appeal Cases, Vol. II, p. 4ig. 

 * Law Reports, Appeal Cases, Vol. II, p. 420-421. 



