STATUTES 



BRITISH STATUTE 28 GEO. Ill, CAP. 35, 1788 > 



An Act to enable His Majesty to make such Regulations as may be necessary to 

 prevent the inconvenience which might arise from the competition of His Majesty's 

 subjects and those of the Most Christian King, in carrying on the Fishery on the 

 Coasts of the Island of Newfoundland. 



"Whereas, by the thirteenth article of the treaty concluded at Ulrecht on the 

 fourth day of April, new style, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven himdred 

 and thirteen, between Her late Majesty Queen Anyie and the Most Christian King 

 Louis the Fourteenth, it was, among other things, agreed, that the island called New- 

 foundland, with the adjacent islands, should, from that time forward, belong of right 

 wholly to Britain; and to that end the town and fortress of Placentia, and whatever 

 other places in the said island were in the possession of the French, should be yielded 

 and given up, within seven months from the exchange of the ratification of that treaty, 

 or sooner if possible, by the Most Christian King, to those who had a commission 

 from the Queen of Great Britain for that purpose; nor should the Most Christian 

 King, his heirs or successors, or any of their subjects, at any time thereafter, lay 

 claim to any right to the said island and islands, or to any part of them; moreover, 

 it should not be lawful for the subjects of France to fortify any place in the said Island 

 of Newfoundland, or to erect any buildings there, besides stages made of boards, and 

 huts necessary and useful for drying of fish, or to resort to the said island beyond the 

 time necessary for fishing and drying fish: that it should be allowed to the subjects 

 of France to catch fish, and to dry them on land, on that part only, and in none other 

 besides that part of the Island of Newfoundland, which stretches from the place called 

 Cape Bonavista, to the northern point of the said island, and from thence running 

 down by the western side, and reaches as far as the place called Cape Riche: And 

 whereas, by the fifth article of the treaty of peace, concluded at Paris on the tenth 

 day of February one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three, between His Majesty 

 and the late Most Christian King Louis the Fifteenth, and His Most CathoUc Majesty, 

 it was, among other things, agreed, that the subjects of France should have the liberty 

 of fishing and drying on a part of the coast of the Island of Newfoundland, such as is 

 specified in the thirteenth article of the treaty of Utrecht, which article is confirmed 

 and renewed by the present treaty: And whereas, by the fifth article of the definitive 

 treaty of peace, concluded at Versailles, between His Majesty and the Most Chris- 

 tian King, on the third day of September one thousand seven hundred and eighty- 

 three, it was, among other things, agreed, that His Majesty, the King of Great Britain, 

 should be maintained in his right to the Island of Newfoundland, and to the adjacent 

 islands, as the whole were assured to him by the thirteenth article of the treaty of 

 Utrecht, excepting the Islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, which were ceded in full 

 right, by the said treaty of the third day of September one thousand seven hundred 

 and eighty-three, to His Most Christian Majesty; and that His Majesty, the Most 

 Christian King, in order to prevent the quarrels which had before then arisen between 

 the two nations of England and France, consented to remove the right of fishing which 



'Appendix, British Case, p. s6i- 

 464 



