Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-06-18
THE DELAWARE BOUNDARY.
THE STATES CLAIM TO THE TWELVE
MILE CIRCLE,

1he controversy over the r1ght TO
the Delaware River below low water
mark on the New Jersey side, now
pending before the United States Su-
preme Court, has awakened fresh in
terest in the much discussed question.
There are many decisions in the
United States Courts bearing on this
question, and copies of the royal char
ters and grants to the various proprie-
tors of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and
Delaware may be found by the anti
quarians in any well stocked library.
A gentleman of Philadelphia who has
taken a deep interest in the question
has made search of these records and
documents, and he declares that Della
ware appears to have good ground for
claiming jurisdiction over that portion
of the river lying within circle formed
by a twelve mile radius with New Cas-
tie as centre. The boundary between
Pennsylvania and Delaware, which is
part of the circumference of this cir
Gle, was run about thirty years ago,
and was found to reach the river a
short distance below Marcus Hook.
1t is claimed that the territory of
Delaware is limited east of New Castle
by the low water line of the New Jer-
sey shore from a point a short dis
tance below Marcus Hook to a point
near the mouth of AlIoway's Creek,
II miles south from the same centre.
This point would be nearly opposite
the lower end of Reedy Island. 1t is
asserted that William Penn 1.-The three
lower counties on the Delaware,n and
the State of Delaware have successively
held sole title to the soil of the river up
to this line for more than two centu-
| ries.
Testimony taken before Hon. John
Sergeant, who was appointed by the
President of the United States arbi-
traitor to determine the title to Pea
Patch Island, which was claimed by
James Humphreys, and in which was
involved the question of the jurisdic-
tion of New Jersey over the river, is
adduced to sustain the claim of Della
ware. the decision being in this case
adverse to the New Jersey claim. 1t
would appear from this that the royal
charter of Charles II, granted to his
brother James, Duke of York, March
18th, 1864, and subsequently confirmed
in 1914, bounded the country thus CON
veyed ''by the western shore of the
Connecticut River, and by the eastern
shore or side of the Delaware Bav. y
The royal letters patent conveyed the
country between the Delaware and the
Connecticut, together with the river
called Hudson and the lands from the
west side of the Connecticut to the
east side of the Delaware Bay. June
23d, 1864, the Duke of York conveyed
to Lord Berkley and Sir George Car
teret portion of this land "bounded
on the east part by the main sea, and
part by the Hudson River, having on
the west Delaware Bay or River, and
extending southwark as far as Cape
May, at the mouth of Delaware Bay"
| The subsequent conveyances to the
proprietaries of the Jerseys are all
bounded on the west ''by Delaware
Bay or River In several other grants
and conveyances there is no instance
OF carrying the boundary beyond the
eastern side of the bay or river.
An act of 1909 of the New jersey
Legislature, dividing West Jersey into
counties, expressly limits the jurisdic-
ton of the western counties ''bv" the
bay or river and to- the bay and
river only. These limits continued un-
til 1922, when the Legislature extended
the limits of Salem and Cumberland
counties only to the middle of the river,
claim then made for the first time.
Judge Washington and Judge Bald
win, of the United States Circuit Court,
sitting in New Jersey the former in
1928, the latter in 1880, in cases which
came before them, decided that the
title of that State under the royal
charter ''eXtends only to the Delaware
River and does not include any part of
it,
In 1921 the Privy Council of England
on application of the States of Penn
sylvania and New Jersey, referred the
question of their titles to the Delaware
River to Attorney General York and
Solicitor General Raymond, who de-
cided that neither of these States, by
virtue of this charter, had any title
whatever to the river.
At the arbitration in the Pea Patch
case one of the counsel stated that no
decision of a Jersey Judge claiming
jurisdiction within the twelve mile cir
Gle had ever been produced, nor had
any witness mentioned any instance of
an exercise of such a claim previous to
the pending controversy A number