SEA. 



Ireland, and that as far as the (hores of the neighbouring 

 ttatej. In confequence of which pretenfion it is, that chil- 

 dren born in thefe feas are declared natural Englifhmen, as 

 much as if born on Englirti ground. The juftice of this pre- 

 tenfion is ftrenuoufly argued between Grotius and Selden, in 

 the Man liberum, and Mare claufum. 



The ufe of the open fea confilts in navigation and fiihing ; 

 along its coafts it is likewife of ufe for the procuring of fe- 

 veral things found near the (hore, fiich as (hell-fi(h, amber, 

 pearls, &c. for making of fait, and, in (hort, for the eftabhlh- 

 ment of places of retreat and fecurity for veffels. The open 

 fea is in its own nature not to be exclufively poiTelfed, as no 

 one is able to fettle there fo as to hinder others from paffing. 

 But a nation powerful at fea may forbid others to navigate 

 it and to fifh in it, declaring that it appropriates its dominions 

 to itfelf, and that it will dellroy the veffels that fhall dare to 

 appear in it, without its permiffion. Vattel, a highly ap- 

 proved writer on this fubjcft, inveftigates its right to do 

 this. It is evident, in the firft place, that nobody has a right 

 to appropriate to himfelf the ufe of the open fea : for he 

 who navigates or fiflies in it does no injury to any one, and 

 the fea, in both thefe refpefts, is fufficient for all mankind. 

 Nor does Nature give to any man a right of appropriating 

 to himfelf things that may be innocently ufed, and that are 

 inexhaullible, and fufScient for all ; fince, every one being 

 able to find in their ftate of communion what was fufficient 

 to fupply their wants, to undertake to render themfelves 

 fole mailers of them, and to exclude all others, would be 

 to deprive them, without reafon, of the benefits of nature. 

 Although the law of nature approves the rights of dominion 

 and property, which put an end to the primitive manner of 

 living in common, this reafon could not take place with 

 regard to things in themfelves inexhauftible, which cannot 

 therefore be juftly appropriated. 



If the free and common ufe of a thing of this nature was 

 prejudicial or dangerous to a nation, the care of its own 

 fafety authorized it to fubmit, if poffible, that thing to its 

 dominion in order to permit the ufe of it, with fuch precau- 

 tions as prudence (hould direft. But this is not the cafe 

 with the open fea, in which people may fail and fifh without 

 the leall prejudice to any perfon, and without putting any 

 other people in danger. No nation then has a right to lay 

 claim to the open fea, or to attribute the ufe of it to itfelf 

 to the exclufion of others. The kings of Portugal have 

 formerly arrogated to themfelves the empire of the feas of 

 Guinea and the Eaft Indies ; but the other maritime powers 

 gave themfelves little trouble about fuch a pretenfion. The 

 right of navigating and fifhing in the open fea being then a 

 right common to all men, the nation which attempts to ex- 

 clude another from that advantage does it an injury, and 

 gives a fufficient caufe for war : nature authorifing a nation 

 to repel an injury ; that is, to make ufe of force againft any 

 one who would deprive it of its rights. Befides, a nation 

 which, without a title, would arrogate to itfelf an exclufive 

 right to the fea, and fupport it by force, does an injury to 

 all nations whofe common right it violates ; and all are at 

 liberty to unite againlt it, m order to reprefs fuch an attempt. 

 However, as each has the liberty of renouncing its rights, a 

 nation may acquire exclufive rights of navigation and fifhing 

 by treaties, in which other nations renounced, in its favour, 

 the right they derive from nature. Thefe are obliged to 

 obferve their treaties, and the nation they have favoured has 

 a right to maintain by force the poffeffion of its advantages. 

 Thus, the Houfe of Auftria has renounced, in favour of 

 England and Holland, the right of fending veffels from the 

 Netherlands to the Eaft Indies. Many examples of like 

 treaties may be found in Grotius, " De Jure Belli et Pacis," 



lib. ii. cap. iii. f 15. The rights of navigation, fiihing, and 

 others that may be exercifed on the fea, are imprefcriptible ; 

 they cannot be lolt for want of ufe ; confequently, when a 

 nation finds that itfelf alone has from time immemorial been 

 in the poffeffion of a navigation or fi(hery in certain feas, it 

 cannot, on this foundation, attribute to itfelf an exclufive 

 riiTht to them. But it may happen, that a want of ufe may 

 be attended with the nature of a confent, or a tacit paft, 

 and thus become a title in favour of one nation againft ano- 

 ther. Wlien a nation in the poffeffion of the navigation and 

 fifhery in certain l.ititudes, pretends an exclufive right, and 

 forbids any other interfering in it ; if thefe obey that 

 prohibition with fufficient marks of acquiefcence, they 

 tacitly renounce their right in favour of the other, and 

 eltablifh a right which the other may afterwards lawfully 

 maintain againll them, efpeciaUy when it is confirmed by 

 long ufe. 



Neverthelefs, the fea near the coafts may become pro- 

 perty ; fo that the nation to which the coafts belong may 

 appropriate to itfelf an advantage which it is confidered as 

 having taken poffeffion of, and made a profit of it, in the 

 fame manner as it may poffefs the domain of the land which 

 it inhabits. But if, fo far from taking poffeffion of it, it has 

 once acknowledged the common right of other nations to 

 come and fifli there, it can no longer exclude them from it ; 

 it has left that fifhery in its primitive freedom, at leaft, with 

 refpcfl to thofe who have been in poffeffion of it. The 

 Englilh not having taken the advantage from the beginning 

 of the herring fidiery on their coaft, it is become common to 

 them with other nations. 



A nation may likewife appropriate things, where the free 

 and common ufe of them would be prejudicial and dangerous. 

 This is a fecond reafon for which powers extend their do- 

 mions over the fea along their coaft, as far as they are able 

 to proteft their right. It concerns their fafety and the 

 welfare of the ftate, that the whole world be not permitted 

 to come fo near their poffeffion, efpeciaUy w^ith men of war, 

 as to hinder the approach of trading nations, and difturb na- 

 vigation. Thefe contiguous parts of the fea, thus fubjeft to 

 a ftate, are comprehended in its territory ; nor can any one 

 navigate them in fpite of that nation. But it cannot refufe 

 accefs to veffels not fufpefted, for innocent ufes, without vio- 

 lating its duty ; every proprietor being obliged to grant a 

 paffage to ftrangers, even by land, when it may be done 

 without damage or danger. 



It is not cafv to determine to what diftance a nation may 

 extend its rights over the fea by which it is furrounded. 

 Bodinus pretends that, according to the common right of 

 all maritime nations, the prince's dominion extends even 

 thirty leagues from the coaft. But this exaft determination 

 can only be founded in a general confent of nations, which it 

 would be difficult to prove ; each ftate may, in this refpeft, 

 ordain what it (hall think beft, in relation to what concerns 

 the citizens themfelves, or their affairs with the fovereign ; 

 but between nation and nation, all that can be reafonably 

 faid is, that, in general, the dominion of the ftate over the 

 neighbouring fea extends as far as is neceflary for its fafety, 

 and it can render it refpedled ; fince, on the one hand, it can 

 only appropriate to itfelf a thing that is common, as the fea, 

 fo far as it has need of it, for fome lawful end ; and, as to the 

 other, it would be a vain and ridiculous pretenfion to claim 

 a right that it was no ways able to caufe to be refpefted. 

 The fleets of England have given room to its kings to attri- 

 bute to themfelves the empire of the feas which furround that 

 ifland, even as far as the oppofite coafts. (See Selden's 

 " Marc Claufum.") Selden relates a folemn aft, by which 

 it appears that this empire, in the time of Edward I., was 

 6 acknow- 



