Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/291/361/
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 18:01:08+00:00

Document:
1. The boundary between Delaware and New Jersey, within a circle of twelve-miles about the town of New Castle, is the low water mark of the Delaware River on the East, or New Jersey, side, and below the circle it is the thalweg or main channel of navigation in Delaware River and Delaware Bay. Pp. 291 U. S. 363, 291 U. S. 385.
(1) From a feoffment, describing the Delaware territory within the circle, including the river, its islands, and soil, made by the Duke of York to William Penn, August 24, 1682, when the present territory of Delaware, having been taken over from the Dutch, was governed as a dependency of the Government and Colony of New York under governors commissioned by the Duke. P. 291 U. S. 364.
(2) Letters patent, March 22, 1682/3, from the Crown, granting to the Duke of York the identical lands and waters described in the deed of feoffment, and inuring to the feoffee by virtue of a covenant for further assurance contained in the deed of feoffment. P. 291 U. S. 365.
(3) Confirmation of the title by practically uninterrupted possession of the Delaware territory on the part of Penn and his successors, as Proprietaries and Governors, from the date of the feoffment to the Revolution. P. 291 U. S. 368.
(4) Succession of the Delaware to dominion over the same territory. P. 291 U. S. 370.
3. Early Acts and Resolutions of the Legislature of the State of Delaware attacking the right of the Penns to the vacant and uncultivated lands within the state and for that purpose declaring that the right of soil was, at the date of the Treaty of Paris, in the British Crown, and passed by that Treaty to the citizens of the state, had no effect, either as an estoppel or as a practical construction, upon the ancient boundaries of the colony and state as laid down originally by the letters patent of 1683. P. 291 U. S. 371.
4. The letters patent of 1683 were not surrendered. P. 291 U. S. 373.
5. The Crown had power to grant away the soil beneath navigable waters as an incident to a grant or delegation of powers strictly governmental. P. 291 U. S. 373.
6. Acquiescence by Delaware in wharfing out by riparian proprietors from the New Jersey side did not affect her sovereign title to the riverbed within the circle. P. 291 U. S. 375.
7. Acts of dominion by New Jersey over the riverbed beyond the low water mark, within the twelve mile circle, such as service of process, assessments for taxation, the making of deeds, etc., could not serve to alter the boundary, not having been acquiesced in by Delaware. P. 291 U. S. 376.
8. The compact between New Jersey and Delaware of March, 1905, relating to riparian rights, service of process, and rights of fishery, did not affect the boundary. P. 291 U. S. 377.
9. When New Jersey and Delaware became independent states, the title to the soil of the river below the circle and to the soil of the bay had not been granted, but still was in the Crown of England, and the division of these waters is to be determined by the principles of international law. P. 291 U. S. 378.
10. The modern rule of international law divides boundary rivers between states by the main channel of navigation, if there is one, rather than by the geographical center, and applies the same doctrine of equality to estuaries and bays in which the dominant sailing channel can be followed to the sea. P. 291 U. S. 379.
11. The doctrine of thalweg is applicable between states of the Union where the boundary in question has not been fixed in some other way, as by agreement, practical location, prescription, and it applies even as between states that existed before the doctrine became fully established in international law. Pp. 291 U. S. 380, 291 U. S. 383.
the geographical center should be made the boundary in the river below the circle to avoid a sharp and inconvenient turn where the river meets the bay, are rejected. Pp. 291 U. S. 379, 291 U. S. 383.
Final Hearing on the report of William L. Rawls, Esq., Special Master, in a suit to establish the boundary between the two states. Leave was granted to file the bill of complaint in this case on June 3, 1929 (279 U.S. 825), and it was filed on June 4, 1929. The defendant's answer was filed on October 7, 1929, and on January 8, 1930 (280 U.S. 529), the Special Master was appointed and the case referred to him. His report was filed October 9, 1934, and the cause was argued on exceptions to that report.
up to the middle of the channel. The second branch of the controversy has to do with the boundary line between the two states in the river below the circle and in the bay below the river. In that territory, as in the river above, New Jersey bounds her title by the thalweg. Delaware makes the division at the geographical center, an irregular line midway between the banks or shores.
The special master appointed by this Court in January, 1930 (280 U.S. 529), has now filed his report. As to the boundary within the circle, his report is in favor of Delaware. To that part of the report exceptions have been filed by New Jersey. As to the boundary in the bay and in the river below the circle, his report is in favor of New Jersey. To that part exceptions have been filed by Delaware. The two branches of the controversy will be separately considered here.
Delaware traces her title to the riverbed within the circle through deeds going back two and a half centuries and more.
"ALL THAT the Towne of Newcastle otherwise called Delaware and All that Tract of Land lying within the Compass or Circle of Twelve Miles about the same scituate lying and being upon the River Delaware in America And all Islands in the same River Delaware and the said River and Soyle thereof lying North of the Southermost part of the said Circle of Twelve Miles about the said Towne."
by the delivery of turf and twig and water and Soyle of the River of Delaware. . . . We did deliver allso unto him one turf with a twigg upon it a porringer with River water and Soyle in part of all what was specified in the sd Indentures or deeds."
By force of these acts, there was conveyed to the feoffee any title to the riverbed within the circle that then belonged to the feoffor. New Jersey insists, however, that the feoffor, the Duke of York, was not then the owner of any territory west of the easterly side of the Delaware river, and hence, at the time of the feoffment, had no title to convey. Letters patent from Charles II, dated May 12, 1664, had granted to the Duke full title to and government of a large territory in America, embracing much of New England and, in particular, "all the land from the west side of Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay," not including, however, lands or waters to the west. True, the Duke had gone into possession of lands westward of the grant, including land within the circle, and, through his delegates and deputies, was exercising powers of government. His acts in that behalf were the outcome of conflicts with the Dutch. What is now the state of Delaware had been subject to the government of the Dutch until 1664, when, with the victory of the English arms, it became an English colony. From that time until August 24, 1682, the date of the deed of feoffment, Delaware was governed (with the exception of a brief period from July, 1763, to February 9, 1764) as a dependency of the Government and Colony of New York through governors commissioned by the Duke of York and Albany. Upon the delivery of the deed to Penn, the Duke was the de facto overlord of the land within the circle, though title at that time was still vested in the Crown.
"were never thereafter surrendered, nor was the grant of lands and waters thereby made ever abandoned, nor was its validity ever impaired by any act or proceeding."
By force of this grant, there passed to the Duke of York a title to the land within the circle which inured by estoppel to the grantee under the feoffment.
the feoffee. The objection is urged upon him that an estoppel will not prevail against the Crown. The chancellor makes it plain that he is not favorably impressed.
"For the Duke of York, being then [i.e., at the date of the feoffment] in nature of a common person, was in a condition to be estopped by a proper instrument."
At the same time, he is diffident about declaring a technical estoppel, nor is there need to go so far. If his Majesty was not estopped, he was, in any event, a trustee of the title for the use of the feoffee, which will bring about a like result.
"The Duke of York . . . while a subject was to be considered as a trustee; why not afterwards as a royal trustee? . . . His successors take the legal estate under the same equity, and it is sufficient for plaintiffs if they have an equitable estate."
So Lord Baltimore must make performance in accordance with the contract. True, the decree for performance will be "without prejudice to any prerogative, right, or interest in the Crown." This again is by virtue of the deference owing to the Crown by the keeper of his conscience.
"Being liberated from the restraints of the lord chancellor, we are at liberty to say that the duke, at the date of the deeds, being a subject, was, in this respect, only 'a common person,' and as much bound by estoppel as any other subject."
Per Sergeant, Arbitrator, in the case of Pea Patch Island, 30 Fed.Cas. 1123, 1151.
of New York, promising that they should be governed thereafter by such laws and orders as they should consent to by their own deputies and representatives. A general assembly having been summoned, an Act of Union was passed, December 7, 1682, whereby the three counties of Delaware territory were annexed to Pennsylvania. In the same month was enacted an Act of Settlement providing for a Provincial Council and Assembly and reciting the letters patent to Pennsylvania and the deeds of release and feoffment from the Duke of York. Following the establishment of this government, Penn and his successors as Proprietaries and Governors, and the Assembly and Council of the Province, together with the Assembly of the Lower Counties subsequently established, continued to exercise the power of government in all its plenitude over Pennsylvania and the Delaware territory. This continued until the Revolution, except for a brief interruption during the reign of William and Mary.
There were, it is true, intermittent challenges both of the proprietary interest of Penn and his successors and of their governmental powers. As to these last, the most serious challenge was one that followed the accession of William and Mary in February, 1689, after the deposition of James II as the result of the "Glorious Revolution." Penn, who had been a favorite of royalty during the reign of James, was for a time under a cloud. In 1692, he was removed from the Government of Pennsylvania, including the New Castle country, and his place given to a successor. But he was soon restored to power, and, it seems, to the royal confidence. In August, 1694, there was an Order in Council by which he was reestablished in his former office. In the same month, letters patent issued under the Great Seal of state restoring him in the most formal way to the administration of the government of the "said province and territories," and revoking any other appointment inconsistent therewith.
This patent, it would seem, had settled for all time the validity of his exercise of governmental powers, however much it may have left in doubt his title to the land. Mutterings of uncertainty, however, continued to be heard as to his rights and powers in both aspects. In 1701, he had correspondence with the Board of Trade which showed itself restless on the subject of his ownership. At intervals during the reign of Anne and afterwards, he was required to sign a declaration that the approval by the Crown of his governmental acts, such as the appointment of a deputy, was not to be construed in any manner to diminish "her Majesty's claim of right to the said three lower counties." But the claims of right thus reserved were never admitted by Penn to be valid, nor were they ever pressed by the Crown. Not even the petitions of jealous rivals, egging the Crown on, were of avail to wake it into action. Thus, in 1717, the Earl of Sutherland applied for a grant of the three Lower Counties, asserting that he was ready to prove that the title was in the Crown. The Attorney General issued a summons to Penn to be present at a hearing, but Penn, who had suffered a stroke of apoplexy, was unable to appear, and the proceeding was allowed to lapse. A like fate awaited similar petitions submitted in later years. Reservations of the royal claims might continue to be made by cautious scriveners. By the time of the Revolution they were little more than pious formulas. A title, good of record when reinforced by the patent of 1683, had been confirmed by a century of undisturbed possession. When the Treaty of Paris was signed in 1783, the land within the circle was part of the territory of Delaware, and the title was in the Penns or in persons claiming under them.
"to take up no Warrants and to accept of no Patents or Deeds whatever from John Penn the Younger and John Penn, or either of them, or their Agents or Attornies."
"relinquished all rights, proprietary and territorial within the limits of the said United States to the citizens of the same, for their sole use and benefit, by virtue whereof the soil and lands within the limits of this state became the right and property of the citizens thereof,"
"the claims of the late and former pretended proprietaries of this state, to the soil and lands contained within the same, are not founded either in law or in equity."
is with the meaning of an instrument of government, a patent of jurisdiction, which was to generate a state.
"the lands under the navigable waters passed to the grantee, as one of the royalties incident to the powers of government, and were to be held by him, in the same manner, and for the same purposes, that the navigable waters of England, and the soils under them, are held by the Crown."
"Insist upon my Title to ye River, Soyl, and Islands thereof according to Grant. . . . Whatever bee ye Argument, they are bounded Westward by the River Delaware, yn they cannot go beyond low water mark for land. They have ye Liberty of ye River, but not ye Propriety."
The title to the soil, which was subject to the jus publicum while it was vested in the King and his grantees, is subject to the same restrictions in the ownership of Delaware. The patent and the deeds under it are not void for want of power.
the strength of her own title than on the weakness of her adversary's. The supposed defects have already been reviewed in this opinion, and have been found to be unreal. There is still to be considered whether events during the years of statehood have worked a change of ownership. New Jersey argues that they have, though not even during those years does she build her claim of title upon instruments of record. Her claim is rather this -- that, through the exercise of dominion by riparian proprietors and by the officers of government, title to the subaqueous soil up to the centre of the channel has been developed by prescription. The special master held otherwise, and we are in accord with his conclusion.
be no legitimate inference that Delaware made over to New Jersey the title to the stream up to the middle of the channel, or even the soil under the piers. The privilege or license was accorded to the owners individually, and even as to them was bounded by the lines of their possession.
"at no time has the Delaware ever abandoned its claim, dominion, or jurisdiction over the Delaware River within said twelve-mile circle, nor has it at any time acquiesced in the claim of the State of New Jersey, thereto, except as modified by the . . . Compact of 1905."
136 U. S. 511; Massachusetts v. New York, supra, p. 271 U. S. 95. Acquiescence is not compatible with a century of conflict. Only a few instances will be mentioned among many that are available. In 1813, the Delaware Assembly ceded to the United States an island in the Delaware river, east of the main channel and within the twelve-mile circle, for the erection of a fort. A controversy arose between the United States as holder of the Delaware title and Henry Gale, who claimed under New Jersey. In 1836, Gale brought ejectment in the United States Circuit Court against Beling, a tenant. Mr. Justice Baldwin charged the jury that Penn had no title, but the charge makes it plain that he had no knowledge of the letters patent of 1683, and that they were not in evidence before him. Later, an arbitration was agreed upon between Humphrey, who had succeeded to the New Jersey title, and the Government of the United States, represented by the Secretary of War. In that proceeding, the award was in favor of the Government. The opinion by the arbitrator, which was announced in January, 1849, is a careful and able statement of the conflicting claims of right. See the case of Pea Patch Island, supra. But the controversy would not down. In 1877, New Jersey began a suit in this Court to establish the disputed boundary. It slumbered for many years, and finally, in April, 1907, was discontinued without prejudice. 205 U.S. 550. If a record such as this makes out a title by acquiescence, one is somewhat at a loss to know how protest would be shown.
of riparian rights, for concurrent jurisdiction in respect of civil and criminal process, and for concurrent rights of fishery. Beyond that it does not go.
"Nothing herein contained shall affect the territorial limits, rights, or jurisdiction of either state of, in, or over the Delaware River, or the ownership of the subaqueous soil thereof, except as herein expressly set forth."
The title to the soil of the lower river and the bay is unaffected by any grant to the Duke of York or others. The letters patent to James do not affect the ownership of the bed below the circle. Up to the time when New Jersey and Delaware became independent states, the title to the soil under the waters below the circle was still in the Crown of England. When independence was achieved, the precepts to be obeyed in the division of the waters were those of international law. Handly's Lessee v. Anthony, 5 Wheat. 374, 18 U. S. 379.
International law today divides the river boundaries between states by the middle of the main channel, when there is one, and not by the geographical center, halfway between the banks. Iowa v. Illinois, 147 U. S. 1, 147 U. S. 7-9; Keokuk & Hamilton Bridge Co. v. Illinois, 175 U. S. 626, 175 U. S. 631; Louisiana v. Mississippi, 202 U. S. 1, 202 U. S. 49; Arkansas v. Tennessee, 246 U. S. 158, 246 U. S. 169-170; Arkansas v. Mississippi, 250 U. S. 39; Minnesota v. Wisconsin, 252 U. S. 273, 252 U. S. 282. It applies the same doctrine, now known as the doctrine of the "thalweg," to estuaries and bays in which the dominant sailing channel can be followed to the sea. Louisiana v. Mississippi, supra, and compare 1 Halleck International Law (4th Ed.) p. 182; Moore, Digest International Law, vol. 1, p. 617; Matter of Devoe Manufacturing Co., 108 U. S. 401; The Fame, 8 Fed.Cas. 984, Story, J.; The Open Boat, 18 Fed.Cas. 751, Ware, J. The "thalweg," or downway, is the track taken by boats in their course down the stream, which is that of the strongest current. 1 Westlake, International Law, p. 144; Orban, Etude de Droit Fluvial International, pp. 343, 343; Kaeckenbeck, International Rivers, p. 176; Hyde, supra; Fiore, International Law Codified, § 1051; Calvo, Dictionnaire de Droit International. Delaware makes no denial that this is the decisive test whenever the physical conditions define the track of navigation. Her position comes to this -- that the bay is equally navigable in all directions, or, at all events, was so navigable in 1783, and that, in the absence of a track of navigation, the geographical center becomes the boundary not of choice, but of necessity. As to the section of the river between the bay and the circle, the same boundary is to be accepted, we are told, as a matter of convenience.
defined channel of navigation up and down the Bay and River"
"Delaware River and Bay, on account of shoals, are not equally navigable in all directions, but the main ship channel must be adhered to for safety in navigation;"
that the Bay, according to the testimony, "is only an expansion of the lower part of the Delaware River," and that the fresh water of the river does not spread out uniformly when it drains into the bay, but maintains a continuing identity through its course into the ocean.
"The record shows the existence of a well defined deep water sailing channel in Delaware River and Bay constituting a necessary truck of navigation, and the boundary between the states of Delaware and New Jersey in said bay is the middle of said channel."
are more than geometrical divisions. They are the arteries of trade and travel.
"agreed that the western boundary of the United States which separates them from the Spanish colony of Louisiana is in the middle of the channel or bed of the River Mississippi."
Miller, Treaties and other International Acts of the United States of America, vol. 2, p. 321. [Footnote 6] There are other treaties of the same period in which the boundary is described as the middle of the river without further definition, yet this Court has held that the phrase was intended to be equivalent to the middle of the channel. Iowa v. Illinois, Arkansas v. Tennessee, Arkansas v. Mississippi, supra. See, e.g., the Treaty of 1763 between Great Britain, France, and Spain, which calls for "a line drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi." The truth plainly is that a rule was in the making which was to give fixity and precision to what had been indefinite and fluid.
There was still a margin of uncertainty within which conflicting methods of division were contending for the mastery. Conceivably that is true today in unusual situations of avulsion or erosion. Hyde, supra, pp. 246, 247. Even so, there has emerged out of the flux of an era of transition a working principle of division adapted to the needs of the international community. Through varying modes of speech, the law has been groping for a formula that will achieve equality in substance, and not equality in name only. Unless prescription or convention has intrenched another rule (1 Westlake, International Law, p. 146), we are to utilize the formula that will make equality prevail.
"there was in 1783 no well defined channel in the Delaware Bay constituting a necessary track of navigation, and the boundary line between the states of Delaware and New Jersey in said bay is the geographical center thereof."
the written and oral arguments. The line of division is to be the center of the main channel unless the physical conditions are of such a nature that a channel is unknown.
"All that the Towne of Newcastle otherwise called Delaware and the fort therein or thereunto belonging scituate lying and being between Maryland and New Jersey in America And all that Tract of land lying within the Compasse or Circle of twelve miles about the said Towne Scituate lying and being upon the River of Delaware and all Islands in the said River of Delaware and the said River and Soyle thereof lying North of the Southermost part of the said Circle of twelve miles about the said Towne And all that Tract of Land upon Delaware River and Bay beginning twelve miles South from the said Towne of Newcastle otherwise called Delaware and extending South to Cape Lopen."
Powers of government and other proprietary and seignorial rights were granted to the Duke along with ownership of the fee.
Compare, however, as to covenants of seisin, Doane v. Willcutt, 5 Gray 328, 66 Am.Dec. 369; Allen v. Sayward, 5 Me. 227.
The Attorney General filed two answers in the cause, neither of which asserted any beneficial title in the Crown, but merely prayed that the court might "Preserve all such Rights Title and Interest of in or to the Premises as shall appertain or belong to his Majesty."
The complainant points for illustration to the construction of important works for the use of the Dupont Co. 4,400 feet below low water level, and taxation of these works like other property in New Jersey. At that time, controversy was flagrant between the two states. No inference of ownership can be drawn from dominion exerted in such conditions.
"In case of any Doubt, the Jurisdictions on each Side reach to the Middle of the River that runs betwixt them, yet it may be, and in some Places it has actually happened, that the River wholly belongs to one Party, either because the other Nation had not got possession of the other Bank 'till later, and when their Neighbours were already in Possession of the whole River, or else because Matters were stipulated by some Treaty."
In an earlier section (§ 16, subdivision 2) he quotes a statement of Taxitus that, at a certain point "the Rhine began . . . to have a fixed Channel, which was proper to serve for a Boundary."
"If, of two nations inhabiting the opposite banks of the river, neither party can prove that they themselves, or those whose rights they inherit, were the first settlers in those tracts, it is to be supposed that both nations came there at the same time, since neither of them can give any reason for claiming the preference, and in this case, the dominion of each will extend to the middle of the river."
See also the treaties collected in the Argument of the United States before the International Boundary Commission in the Chamizal Arbitration of 1910 between the United States and Mexico.
Nys traces the concept of the thalweg to a period earlier than the Treaty of Munster, 1648. Droit International v. 1, p. 426.
"International law, as well as domestic law, may not contain, and generally does not contain, express rules decisive of particular cases; but the function of jurisprudence is to resolve the conflict of opposing rights and interests by applying, in default of any specific provision of law, the corollaries of general principles. . . . This is the method of jurisprudence; it is the method by which law has been gradually evolved in every country resulting in the definition and settlement of legal relations as well between states as between private individuals."
The case of the Eastern Extension Australasia and China Telegraph Co., Ltd., decided November 9, 1923, by the British American Arbitral Tribunal under the Convention of August 18, 1910, Nielsen's Report, pp. 75, 76, quoted by Lauterpacht, supra, p. 110.

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