The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-07-12
THREE-MILE LINE.
MEANS A GREAT DEAL AS BE-
TWEEN NATIONS.
How This Came to Mark the
of National Jurisdiction Over the
Sea - England and Spain Used to
Claim All. "

Claim All. v /
The greed for power and conquest
among the nations of northern and
western Europe led them, as soon as
able to s~ubstantiate their claims in
any effectual amer, to lay claim to
all of the ocean which bordered on
their domains. Spain claimed the
ocean west of it to it's furthest limits, |
while England claimed not only the
narrow seas which washed it's shores
as far as the opposite coasts, but also
the western sea to an indefinite extent.
For and against these claims volumes
were written, the less favored nations
whose domains did not border on these
seas claiming that they ought to be
free highways of the nations, and the
nations touching them defending their
exclusive right to them. Most of these
writings are now merely legal curiosi-
ties. Many of the arguments advanced
by Master Selden in favor of mare
clausum are SO crude, a a writer in
Case and Comment. that it is strange
they could have been regarded as hav-
ing weight ever in his day. The ma
tural change in the interests of the
nations caused by the growth Of the
commercial spirit and the demonstra-
ton of the worthlessness of such pos
sessions as the sea have led to an
abandonment of claims to closed seas.
The revulsion has been so strong that
even the United States could not estab-
lish such a claim to the Boring sea,
although having so much interest and
such apparent justice in the claim.
All writer's have agreed, however,
that there must be some portion of the
sea adjoining the coast over which the
nation should have jurisdiction. This
is an absolute necessity for many rea-
sons. Prominent among them is that
a nation ought to be free from disturb
ance of conflicts between contending
vessels of other nations SO close to it's
shores as to endanger its citizens.
Again, there should be some space over
which it a extend it's police juris-
diction, both for protection from GRIM
inals and to aid it in suppressing va
S1OAO I'll us Id WIS. w Id ILLS SpdCG
shall be has been the subject of much
discussion. 1t has been suggested that
the limit should be a line fixed at an
ordinary distance from the coast, as
100 miles, or at such a distance as a
ship could sail in a given time, or that
it should be as far as the eye could
see. None of these tests was satisfac-
tory.
Finally it was suggested, apparently
by Bynkershoek, that the limit should
be That to which a cannon shot from
the shore would reach. This sugges
ion proved acceptable, although the
'ull force of the reasons in it's favor
we're mot perceived until later. This
IS the point to which the sea can be
defended from the shore, and the point
beyond which the presence of strangers
IS mot a menace to the safety of those
ON shore. At the time the rule was
adopted the range of a cannon shot
was about a marine league, SO, for the
purpose of definiteness, the limit was
fixed at a marine league from the
shore. Losing sight of it's reason, this
10 lie llLulI WHICH, has COuIluu0u, al
though the range of cannon has much
increased. The reason of the rule
establishing the limit requires that
now the Old limit of a marine league
shall be extended. This should be done,
however, by general consent of the ma
lions, and a new definite limit fixed,
such as three marine leagues, or ten,
or some other fixed number of miles,
because the mere limit of the range of
a canno shot is too indefinite to be
practicable, although the approximate
range of the cannon should fix the
limit. Whether or not an act is with
in a given number of miles of the coast
may be determined with relative ease
in any given case, whereas the question
whether or not it is within range of
a n shot might lead to endless
controversy and be impossible to set
tie satisfactorily.