Task: sc_certreason

What follows is an opinion from the Supreme Court of the United States. Your task is to identify the reason, if any, given by the court for granting the petition for certiorari.

Justice Blackmun
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This litigation was instituted in August 1977, pursuant to Art. Ill, §2, cl. 2, of the United States Constitution and 28 U. S. C. § 1251(a)(1) (1976 ed.), by the presentation to this Court of a motion by the State of Georgia for leave to file a complaint against the State of South Carolina. The suit wasthe culmination of a prolonged dispute between the two States over the location of their boundary along the lower reaches of the Savannah River (that is, downstream from the city of Savannah) and at the river’s mouth. The two States also are in disagreement as to their lateral seaward boundary.
We granted leave to Georgia to file its complaint. 434 U. S. 917 (1977). The Honorable Walter E. Hoffman, Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, was appointed Special Master with the authority customarily granted in litigation of this kind. 434 U. S. 1057 (1978). South Carolina, in due course, filed its answer and counterclaims.
The Special Master submitted his First Report (1 Rep.) to this Court eight years later on March 20, 1986. That report dealt with the issues other than the lateral seaward boundary. The Master and the parties moved that we defer action on the First Report until he had ruled on the seaward boundary. We complied with that request. The Special Master’s Second and Final Report (2 Rep.) was filed April 24, 1989. The Court fixed the time for the filing of exceptions. See 490 U. S. 1033 (1989). Each State filed exceptions and each responded to the exceptions of the other. Briefs were submitted and oral argument followed.
I
Background
On June 9, 1732, nearly 260 years ago, King George II, describing himself as King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, issued letters patent constituting the Charter of the Colony of Georgia. These letters described the boundary between that colony and the existing Colony of South Carolina as “the most northern part of a stream or river there, commonly called the Savannah.” See F. Van Zandt, Boundaries of the United States and the Several States (Geological Survey Professional Paper 909) 100 (1976).
The precise location of segments of the boundary, however, proved to be a matter of continuing dispute between South Carolina and Georgia. Much of the controversy originally concerned navigation rights on the river. Shortly after the United States emerged as a Nation, commissioners appointed by each of the States met at Beaufort, S. C., and produced a Convention known as the Treaty of Beaufort of April 28, 1787 (hereinafter Treaty). See Van Zandt, supra, at 99; see also Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U. S. 516, 518 (1922). The Treaty stated that the boundary was the “most northern branch or stream of the river Savannah..., reserving all the islands in the said rive[r] Savannah... to Georgia The Treaty was ratified in due course by the legislature of each State and by the Continental Congress. See 33 Journals of the Continental Congress 467 (1936).
Past Litigation
The very existence of the present suit, of course, demonstrates that the Treaty of Beaufort did not resolve all river-boundary questions between South Carolina and Georgia. Indeed, this is not the first, but the third, occasion that some issue concerning that boundary has come before this Court.
The first case is South Carolina v. Georgia, 93 U. S. 4 (1876). South Carolina filed a bill in equity for an injunction restraining Georgia and certain federal officials from “obstructing or interrupting” navigation on the Savannah River. This Court dismissed the bill. It ruled that the 1787 Treaty had no effect upon the power of Congress to regulate commerce among the several States. Congress’ power over the river was the same as it possessed over other navigable waters. Thus, Congress could close one of the several channels in the river if, in its judgment, navigation thereby would be improved.
The second case is Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U. S. 516, decided in 1922. There, the Treaty of Beaufort was central to the controversy. The Court held, among other things, that (1) where there is no island in the Savannah River, the boundary is midway between the banks when the water is at ordinary stage, (2) where an island is present, the boundary is midway between the island bank and the South Carolina shore, with the water at ordinary stage, (3) where a navigable or nonnavigable river is the boundary between the two States, and the navigable channel is not involved, then, in the absence of contrary agreement, each State takes to the middle of the stream, and (4) the location of the boundary under the Treaty was unaffected by the thalweg doctrine because of the Treaty’s provision that each State shall have equal rights of navigation. The ensuing decree is set forth at 259 U. S. 572 (1922).
It is to be noted that this Court did not discuss the problem of emerging islands, that navigability was not itself a factor in determining the boundary, and that no map or chart illuminated the Court’s reported opinion.
Neither of these cases bears directly upon the specific issues presently before us. The 1876 case, however, illustrates the type of boundary problem the Savannah River is capable of producing, and the 1922 case reveals generally this Court’s approach to the Treaty of Beaufort.
The decision in United States v. 450 Acres of Land, More or Less in Chatham County, 220 F. 2d 353 (CA5), cert. denied, 350 U. S. 826 (1955), must be mentioned. This was a condemnation proceeding instituted by the Federal Government in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Georgia to acquire an easement to enter upon “Barnwell Island,” one of the islands of a group discussed in Part III hereof, for the deposit of spoil excavated from Savannah Harbor. The complaint was served upon E. B. Pinckney, who claimed ownership of the island, and upon certain Beaufort County,,S. C., officials. Only Pinckney made an appearance. He moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of jurisdiction on the ground that the land was in South Carolina. The motion was granted, and the Government’s complaint was dismissed. Georgia then was allowed to intervene. The Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit reversed. It observed:
“The boundary line between Georgia and South Carolina is not in dispute as between these sovereigns....
“There is, there can be, no doubt that the land here involved is in the State of Georgia. Article I of the Beaufort Convention specifically reserved to Georgia all the islands in the Savannah River and the Supreme Court by its decision and decree in State of Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U. S. 516... confirmed that reservation.” 220 F. 2d, at 356.
Although South Carolina did not participate in that case, it sought leave to file an original-jurisdiction complaint in this Court to confirm its claimed sovereignty over the Barnwell Islands. Leave to file was denied. South Carolina v. Georgia, 350 U. S. 812 (1955). This took place while Pinckney’s petition for certiorari, noted above, in the Fifth Circuit case was pending in this Court. Later, another application by South Carolina for leave to file also was denied. South Carolina v. Georgia, 352 U. S. 1030 (1957).
II
The Special Master’s Reports and the Exceptions
The Special Master’s two reports concern, as he listed them, (1) a small unnamed island upstream, or west, of Pennyworth Island, (2) an unnamed island east of Pennyworth, referred to as “Tidegate,” (3) the Barnwell Islands, that is, Rabbit Island, Hog Island, Long Island, and Barnwell No. 3, (4) Southeastern Denwill, (5) Jones Island, (6) Horseshoe Shoal and Oyster Bed Island, (7) the mouth of the river, and (8) the lateral seaward boundary.
The Special Master himself, “[f Jor the convenience of the Court and counsel,” described the “major legal issues” covered by his First Report in this way:
“1. Did the Treaty of 1787, in reserving all islands in the Savannah River to Georgia, intend to include not only the then existing islands, but also all islands thereafter emerging by natural processes on the South Carolina side of the river? If the answer is in the affirmative, how can the 1922 decision of this Court be reconciled?
“2. Is the Special Master correct in determining that the right-angle principle should be invoked by the de-marcator in drawing the boundary line around islands on the South Carolina side of the ‘thread’ of the Savannah River, because of the ‘special circumstances’ existing by reason of the preclusive effect of the 1922 Supreme Court decision as it interpreted the Treaty of 1787?
“3. Has the Special Master correctly ruled that Rabbit Island accreted to the State of South Carolina, and whether the ‘Island Rule’ is applicable?
“4. Has the Special Master correctly decided that Hog Island and Long Island have been acquired by the State of South Carolina under the doctrine of prescription and acquiescence? The Special Master notes that, even though Hog Island (in existence in 1787) was acquired by South Carolina under the doctrine of prescription and acquiescence, there remained at that time a creek separating Hog Island from the mainland and it was not until the spoilage had been dumped by avulsive processes that Hog Island became a part of the South Carolina mainland.
“5. Has the Special Master correctly ruled that the area known as Southeastern Denwill, if it presently encroaches on the southern side of the mid-point of the Savannah River as it existed in 1787, now belongs to Georgia?
“6. Has the Special Master correctly ruled that Jones Island, at all pertinent times, was in the State of South Carolina?
“7. Did the Special Master err in diverting from the doctrine of medium filum acquae as established by the 1922 decision of this Court, in proceeding eastwardly after leaving the southern tip of Turtle Island?” 1 Rep. 112-113.
Georgia’s exceptions to both reports are directed to the Special Master’s recommendations concerning (a) the Barn-well Islands (other than Rabbit Island, as to which Georgia does not now except), (b) Oyster Bed Island and the mouth of the Savannah River, (c) the “use of a right-angle line to connect the boundary in stream around an island in the Savannah River with the boundary in the mainstream of the river,” see Ga. Exceptions ii, (d) the Master’s ruling that islands of natural formation emerging after the Treaty of Beaufort are not in Georgia if they emerged “on the South Carolina side of the river,” ibid., and (e) the Master’s use of the navigation channel, rather than the geographic middle of the “mouth” of the Savannah River, as the starting point for his delineation of the lateral seaward boundary. Georgia’s exceptions, so far as the First Report is concerned, thus are directed only to the first, second, fourth, and seventh of the issues listed by the Master. Some of the claims Georgia pressed before the Master, e. g., the one relating to Jones Island, are not presented for review here; we treat those claims as now abandoned.
South Carolina takes exception to the Master’s recommendations concerning (a) the lateral seaward boundary, (b) “two narrow strips of land well downstream from the City of Savannah,” (c) the “downstream area known as Horseshoe Shoal,” and (d) “the line which resulted from the placement of Horseshoe Shoal in Georgia.” See S. C. Exceptions 2. So far as the First Report is concerned, these exceptions thus are directed only to the first, fifth, and seventh of the issues listed by the Master.
Before we consider these several exceptions specifically, we note that Georgia’s reaction to the First Report is straightforward. It asserts that under the 1787 Treaty all islands in the Savannah River are in Georgia; that, despite this treaty provision, the Master would place certain islands in South Carolina; and that his First Report “reflects his fundamental dissatisfaction with the boundary line as established by the framers of the Treaty of Beaufort and as construed by this Court in 1922.” Ga. Exceptions 7. This has led the Master “to diverge, at virtually every opportunity, from the boundary which has been established since 1787, in order to place his recommended boundary in or near the mainstream or the navigation channel of the river.” Id., at 8. South Carolina, of course, disavows this characterization of the Special Master’s decision.
We turn to the exceptions in an order we select.
III
The Barnwell Islands
These islands were four in number and were named by the Barnwell family, in downstream order, Rabbit Island, Hog Island (referred to as “Barnwell Island” on some older United States Coast Survey maps), Long Island (referred to as Barnwell Island No. 2 on some maps), and Barnwell Island No. 3 (actually the fourth island and not present when the family named the others). As has been noted, Georgia takes no exception to the Special Master’s recommendation that Rabbit Island, although in the Savannah River in 1787, now be adjudged to be in South Carolina. This leaves us with Hog Island, Long Island, and Barnwell Island No. 3.
Georgia states that the Barnwell Islands remained as islands in the Savannah River and discernible as such well into the 20th century, when, because of the activity of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, they became affixed to the South Carolina shore. Ga. Exceptions 13. South Carolina opines that the Barnwell Islands area is the most valuable land in the present dispute. It consists of at least 450 acres of high ground only a short distance downstream from the city of Savannah. It is “clearly capable of future economic development.” Response for South Carolina 1-2.
Georgia’s argument is essentially this: Long acquiescence in the practical location of an interstate boundary, and possession in accordance therewith, often has been used as an aid in resolving boundary disputes. See, e. g., Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 4 How. 591, 638-639 (1846); Louisiana v. Mississippi, 202 U. S. 1, 53 (1906). Possession and dominion are essential elements of a claim of sovereignty by prescription and acquiescence. Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U. S. 503, 524 (1893). The duration of any purported dominion by South Carolina was judicially terminated by the above-cited Fifth Circuit decision in 1955. In line with that decision, and at all times since, Georgia has exercised dominion, sovereignty, and ownership of the Barnwell Islands. The Corps of Engineers has possessed and occupied Barnwell pursuant to a deed granted by Georgia for a spoilage easement. The doctrine of prescription and acquiescence may not be used aggressively to acquire territory; it may be used only to confirm the current status. In any event, proof adduced by South Carolina falls short of what is required to change the boundary solemnly accepted by the two States in 1787.
Georgia further maintains that the State asserting the claim must make a showing of acquiescence by the neighboring State. New Jersey v. Delaware, 291 U. S. 361, 376, 377 (1934). Inaction, in and of itself, is of no great importance; what is legally significant is silence in the face of circumstances that warrant a response. Here, it is said, there is little evidence either of prescription by South Carolina or of actual or constructive notice to Georgia sufficient to imply acquiescence by Georgia. Except for the activity by the Corps of Engineers, the islands received scant attention from anyone except members of the Barnwell family. And, apart from some rice planting, there is little evidence of activity on the islands other than illegal whiskey production and the raising of hogs fed with the mash. The fact that moonshining could be carried on successfully shows how little attention was paid to the islands by Georgia authorities and the public generally. Except for the placement of a battery on the islands by Confederate forces during the War Between the States, there never was any resident on the islands and no schools, roads, or other public improvements.
Georgia acknowledges two grants by South Carolina, one in 1795 and the other in 1813. The grants and accompanying plats, however, identify the property only as “islands.” These, says Georgia, were invalid because the 1787 Treaty reserved all islands in the river to Georgia. Thus, South Carolina cannot build its case on those grants. To be sure, there were 1868 deeds describing the property as in South Carolina, but these were intrafamily conveyances by the Barnwells and, in any event, provided no notice to anyone until they were recorded in 1930. There also were a marriage settlement in 1832 and a mortgage in 1871 but these, too, were intrafamily transactions. Anyway, their descriptions were insufficient to constitute notice of claim by South Carolina. The same is true of a deed in 1896 whereby the Barnwell brothers conveyed their interests in the islands and other family property to their sisters. A sheriff’s deed in 1940 was insufficient to convey title, because of inadequate description of the property, and did not constitute notice to Georgia of any South Carolina claim of jurisdiction. The same is true of a 1942 deed from the Forfeited Land Commission of South Carolina to E. B. Pinckney.
There were taxes paid to Beaufort County, S. C., by the Barnwell family and later by Pinckney, but the tax records contain no information identifying the property, and even after 1930 there was no correlation between the acreage reported for taxes and the acreage conveyed by the deeds. The claim of South Carolina prescription and Georgia acquiescence is contradicted “by considerable evidence” that Georgia and United States officials understood the islands to be in Georgia. Ga. Exceptions 34. There was a Georgia grant in 1760. In 1825, 1830, and 1831, taxes were paid to Chatham County, Ga. Many maps show the Barnwell Islands (other than Rabbit) to be on the Georgia side of the boundary line between the two States.
Thus, the short duration of actual possession, the limited South Carolina official Acts, and the paucity of published or recorded documents referring to the islands as in South Carolina fall far short, Georgia claims, of establishing the open and continuous possession required to confirm a boundary by prescription. This is especially so since the islands remained as islands in the river until well into the 20th century, and since South Carolina continued to recognize officially the Treaty of Beaufort with its provision that all islands in the river are in Georgia. This is not a situation where Georgia can be held to have acquiesced.
South Carolina, in its turn, first takes the position that the 1955 Fifth Circuit case has no effect whatsoever, directly or indirectly, on the present litigation. South Carolina was not a party in that case, and the case did not fix the boundary between the States. It further argues that Georgia asserted no act of dominion or control over the Barnwell Islands from 1787 until the 1950’s, and acquiesced in South Carolina’s jurisdiction through long inaction in the face of the latter’s continuing and obvious exercise of dominion since 1795.
With all this before us, and recognizing that each side advances some facts favorable to its position, we decide this issue in favor of South Carolina. We agree that the 1955 case in the Fifth Circuit cannot be regarded as fixing the boundary between the States. Although some South Caro-linians were served with process, they were local officials and a person whose name appeared in the chain of title. South Carolina itself was never served and made no appearance. See Martin v. Wilks, 490 U. S. 755, 761-762 (1989). In any event, this Court, not a Court of Appeals, is the place where an interstate boundary dispute usually is to be resolved. See Durfee v. Duke, 375 U. S. 106, 115-116 (1963). The judgment in the 1955 case, therefore, does not control the issue of South Carolina’s sovereignty. Nor do the incidental effects of that case transform the judgment into one that binds South Carolina. This conclusion needs no additional fortification, but, if it did, we would note that South Carolina twice, in 1955 and again in 1957, asked this Court to have the Barnwell area boundary question resolved. Georgia opposed those applications, and leave to file was denied each time by this Court. South Carolina attempted to get the issue here, but until the present litigation was instituted and allowed to proceed, this aspect of the boundary issue was not before this Court.
We need not here repeat in detail the extensive record evidence and the tax and conveyancing documents relied upon by the Special Master in reaching his conclusion. It suffices to say that the entire area in the late 18th and early 19th centuries was low marshy ground. The islands were separated from Georgia by the wide and deep waters of the Savannah River, but were separated from South Carolina only by streams so shallow that they were described as “sometimes dry.” Record, S. C. Exh. B-8. See Handly’s Lessee v. Anthony, 5 Wheat. 374, 381 (1820). The South Carolina grant in 1813, the almost-uniform taxation of the property, the South Carolina seizure and subsequent sale for unpaid taxes, policing and prosecutorial activities by South Carolina authorities, patrolling by South Carolina wildlife officers, and other factors, all support the Special Master’s conclusion that, in any event, South Carolina established sovereignty by prescription and acquiescence.
Georgia seeks to avoid the effect of this evidence on the ground that it had no reasonable notice of South Carolina’s actions and therefore cannot be said to have acquiesced in them. But inaction alone may constitute acquiescence when it continues for a sufficiently long period. See Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 15 Pet. 233, 274 (1841); Vermont v. New Hampshire, 289 U. S. 593, 616 (1933). And there is more than mere inaction on the part of Georgia. The record contains substantial evidence of events that put Georgia on notice of South Carolina’s exercise of sovereignty. Parts of the islands were cultivated, as the Master found, for more than 30 years prior to 1880. This was readily discernible, for rice cultivation requires dikes, and the presence of dikes on the islands appeared on maps of the area as early as 1855. Ga. Exh. 156, App. B to 1 Rep. Georgia was chargeable with knowledge that the Treaty of Beaufort placed all the Savannah River islands in Georgia. Yet Georgia authorities could have discovered there was no record of taxation or other sovereign action over these lands by Georgia except, possibly, for three isolated instances in the early part of the 19th century. Some documents recorded in Georgia, because they also involved Georgia property, describe the islands as in South Carolina. There is evidence, too, that Savannah residents were aware of cultivation on the islands. “It is conclusively settled in England, that open and notorious adverse possession is evidence of notice; not of the adverse holding only, but of the title under which the possession is held.... And in the United States we deem it to be equally settled.” Landes v. Brant, 10 How. 348, 375 (1851).
South Carolina must prevail as to the Barnwell Islands issue, and we overrule Georgia’s exception with respect thereto.
<5
Islands Emerging After the Treaty of Beaufort
The unnamed island west of Pennyworth, the island east of Pennyworth called “Tidegate,” and Oyster Bed Island all emerged after the Treaty of Beaufort was signed in 1787. Georgia claims these islands and argues that, by the terms of the Treaty, the boundary in the vicinity of each island runs between that island and the South Carolina shore. The first Article of the Treaty, see n. 1, supra, provides:
“The most northern branch or stream of the river Savannah from the sea or mouth of such stream to the fork or confluence of the rivers now called Tugoloo and Keowee,... reserving all the islands in the said rivers Savannah and Tugoloo to Georgia... shall forever hereafter form the separation limit and boundary between the States of South Carolina and Georgia.”
This Court considered this provision in 1922 in Georgia v. South Carolina, 257 U. S. 516. Both States agreed that the presence of an island on the South Carolina side of the river altered the boundary so as to bring the island within the jurisdiction of Georgia. In its decision on the merits, the Court resolved two contested issues relevant here.
First it held, ruling in Georgia’s favor, that “where, in any of the boundary rivers here involved, there are no islands the location of the boundary line between the two States is the thread of the river — the middle line of the stream — regardless of the channel of navigation....” Id., at 521. It rejected South Carolina’s alternative position, which would have placed the boundary at the low water mark on the Georgia side of the river: “The express reservation of the islands to Georgia and the placing of the boundary line in the most northerly branch of the Savannah and then of the Tugaloo river up to the ‘northern boundary of South Carolina,’ makes it clear that where there are islands in the river the line must be between them and the South Carolina shore, for otherwise the Georgia islands would be within the State of South Carolina.” Id., at 520-521. Because the “northern branch or stream” clause by definition would bring the boundary north of the low water mark on the Georgia side, the Court thought it unlikely that the parties intended the low water mark to be the benchmark where no islands were present. The more logical reading of the Treaty was that each State would take to “the middle of the stream.” Id., at 521.
Second, the Court held that, where there was an island in the river, the boundary would be midway between the island and the South Carolina shore. This conclusion followed from the determination that the “northern branch or stream” of the river, where an island was present in the northern half of the river, would be the “branch or stream” that ran between the island and the northern shore, and from the Court’s first holding that the midpoint of the relevant body of water was the appropriate place to draw the boundary.
Two principles established by the 1922 decision are pertinent here. First, although it is by no means self-evident on the face of the Treaty that the “northern branch or stream” refers to the “stream” that each island — however small and however close to the northern shore — creates between itself and the shore to the north of it, that was the construction of the Treaty agreed upon by the parties in 1922 and adopted by this Court. Apparently it was thought that a contrary rule, whereby the “northern branch or stream” referred only to a “branch or stream” that made a major departure from the main body of the river, would create an unmanageable boundary, because then the Treaty’s additional reservation of the islands to Georgia would create pockets of Georgia territory within South Carolina wherever islands existed on the South Carolina side of the “northern branch or stream” defined in this larger sense. Second, under the principle that each island in the river created a new “northern branch or stream,” each island was not only reserved to Georgia under the reservation clause of Article I, but also formed a point of reference, by which the boundary would be drawn.
The Court, in its 1922 decision, did not expressly determine the treatment to be given islands that emerged after the Treaty of Beaufort was signed, so that decision is not controlling on this is she. The Special Master found, and South Carolina agrees, that the better reading of the Treaty in light of the 1922 decision is that the clause “reserving all islands... to Georgia” refers only to islands in existence in 1787 and that the “most northern branch or stream,” as applied to a “branch or stream” going to the north of an island, similarly refers only to islands in existence when the Treaty was signed. The Treaty’s establishment of the boundary “forever hereafter” would thus be unaffected by after-emerging islands. Georgia argues that the provision of Article I “reserving all islands... to Georgia” includes such after-emerging islands and that, accordingly, the reference in the Treaty to the “most northern branch or stream of the river Savannah” means the stream flowing to the north of any island currently in the river. We think South Carolina and the Special Master have the better argument.
Georgia’s solution, whereby each emerging island not only is newly “reserv[ed]... to Georgia” but also creates a new “northern branch or stream” by which the boundary between the States must be drawn, would create a regime of continually shifting jurisdiction. Even the smallest emerging island, no matter how near the South Carolina shore, would cause the entire boundary between the States to shift northward, depriving South Carolina not only of the land that constitutes the island but also any riverbed between the island and the center line that previously formed the boundary. We doubt that the parties, in drafting the Treaty, meant to create a boundary that shifted so radically each time a new island emerged in the river. To the contrary, Article I of the Treaty purports to fix the boundary “forever hereafter,” a goal that would be frustrated were the boundary to jump northward each time a new island appeared on the South Carolina side of the river. A construction of the Treaty that avoids sudden changes in the boundary would be more consistent with this language, and also comports with the principles of simplicity and finality that animated the Court’s reading of the Treaty in 1922, and with the respect for settled expectations that generally attends the drawing of interstate boundaries. Cf. Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U. S. 503, 522-525 (1893).
We recognize, of course, that the normal rules relating to accretion and erosion may cause the boundary line between the States to shift over time, so that the line will not necessarily be fixed as of any particular point. But it is one thing to say that the parties meant that gradual shifts in the path of the river would shift the boundary gradually, to the extent of the accretion; this rule is consistent with settled expectations and with the parties’ interest in maintaining their riparian rights. See Nebraska v. Iowa, 143 U. S. 359 (1892). It is quite another thing to infer that the parties meant that each new island, however formed, would alter the boundary line to a degree that could be dramatically out of proportion to the physical change brought about by the formation of the island itself.
Finally, Georgia points to the statement in the 1922 decree that all islands “formed by nature” in the Chattooga River, like the islands in the Savannah and the Tugaloo, were reserved by the Treaty to Georgia. Georgia v. South Carolina, 259 U. S., at 572. This reference, Georgia contends, necessarily implies that the reservation clause in the Treaty includes after-emerging islands, since man-made islands did not exist in the river in 1787. There is no indication, however, that the Court knew of this fact in 1922. No issue of after-emerging islands was even before the Court, and the decree simply described the river as it then was.
In light of the foregoing, we agree with the Special Master that islands that emerged after 1787 do not affect the boundary line between the two States. Georgia’s exception with respect to that issue is overruled.
V
Oyster Bed Island and the Mouth of the River
Oyster Bed Island, which was not in existence in 1787 and which emerged in the 1870’s or 1880’s, is one of the most easterly or downstream islands in the Savannah River. It lies north of Cockspur Island and southeast of Turtle Island. Both Turtle Island and its westerly neighbor, Jones Island, are now conceded by the parties to be in South Carolina. Georgia accepts the Special Master’s location of the boundary between the two States immediately upstream and west of Oyster Bed as midway between Jones Island and certain Georgia islands in the river. Ga. Exceptions 38-39.
Georgia complains, however, that west of Oyster Bed, opposite the southern point of Turtle Island, the Special Master’s recommended boundary departs from the middle of the stream and, going east, makes an “abrupt jog [to the southeast] to reach the navigation channel of the river.” Id., at 38. The result is that Oyster Bed Island is placed in South Carolina, a consequence, Georgia says, that is contrary to this Court’s 1922 ruling in Georgia v. South Carolina, supra.
Georgia fortifies this argument by asserting that in the 1870’s a major navigation channel of the river flowed north of Oyster Bed, but that the Corps of Engineers blocked this northern channel by a training wall and later by deposit of hydraulic fill in order to force the water into the channel south of Oyster Bed. It stresses that only Georgia has exercised dominion and control over Oyster Bed and, indeed, ceded it to the United States in 1820.
It seems to us that this portion of the controversy between the two States centers on the determination of the “mouth” of the Savannah River and encounters no inconsistency with what this Court said in Georgia v. South Carolina. The Savannah River’s “mouth” was not defined in the Treaty of Beaufort. Georgia argues that the mouth, as referred to in the Treaty, must be located in the vicinity of Tybee Island, rather than somewhat upstream. Tybee lies south and east of Cockspur. We accept that submission and regard Tybee as forming the south side of the river’s mouth. Usually, there are two opposing “headlands” marking and constituting the mouth of a river. See Knight v. United States Land Assn., 142 U. S. 161, 207 (1891) (Field, J., concurring). This is the “headland-to-headland” principle used in defining the limits of bays and rivers. 2 A. Shalowitz, Shore and Sea Boundaries § 141, p. 367 (1964). It is not always that simple, however. Sometimes the mouth of a river is difficult to delineate. See S. Jones, Boundary-Making: A Handbook 130 (1945). Because of the absence of a reasonably close headland to the north, Georgia is driven to argue that the boundary at the mouth of the Savannah River must be the geographical middle between Tybee and the closest points of land in South Carolina, that is, Daufuskie Island, lying north and northeastward of Turtle Island, and Hilton Head Island, almost six miles north of Tybee.
We conclude that this is not a realistic determination of the Savannah River’s mouth, and we agree with the Special Master in rejecting the argument.
The difficulty lies in the fact that Tybee Island, the most seaward point of land on the southern side of the river, has no counterpart of high land on the northern side. The geographical feature taking the place of the customarily present opposing headland is, instead, a shoal, long recognized as confining the river. It is true, of course, that the Corps of Engineers affected the flow by its training wall and hydraulic fill. But the shoal which directed that flow has been recognized for many years. Furthermore, Hilton Head Island and Daufuskie Island are so far distant that it is impossible to say that they even touch the Savannah River.
Given this somewhat uncommon type of river mouth, the Special Master’s conclusion that the northern side of the Savannah’s mouth is the underwater shoal is not unreasonable. To accept Georgia’s proposition here would result in having Georgia waters lie directly seaward of South Carolina’s coast and waters.
Georgia’s exception with respect to Oyster Bed Island and the mouth of the Savannah River is overruled.
>
The “Right-Angle” Principle
This Court in its 1922 decision in Georgia v. South Carolina ruled that (1) at any point where there is no island in the Savannah River, the boundary “is on the water midway between the main banks of the river when the water is at ordinary stage,” and (2) where there is an island the boundary “is midway between the island bank and the South Carolina shore when the water is at ordinary stage.” 257 U. S., at 523. This seemingly simple and routine resolution, however, results in a problem, not decided in the 1922 case, when the midline of the stream encounters an island and must move northward to qualify as the line midway between the island bank and the South Carolina shore. Where and how does this boundary movement to the north take place? Is it when the midline touches the island, if it does touch it at all, and does it then move at right angles until it reaches a point midway between the island bank and the South Carolina shore? Does it then proceed accordingly until the island is bypassed and the midline of the stream is to be met and followed, and is a right angle to be applied there as well?
A line midway between the banks of a river, known as the medium filum acquae, Shalowitz, supra

Question: What reason, if any, does the court give for granting the petition for certiorari?
A. case did not arise on cert or cert not granted
B. federal court conflict
C. federal court conflict and to resolve important or significant question
D. putative conflict
E. conflict between federal court and state court
F. state court conflict
G. federal court confusion or uncertainty
H. state court confusion or uncertainty
I. federal court and state court confusion or uncertainty
J. to resolve important or significant question
K. to resolve question presented
L. no reason given
M. other reason
Answer:

Answer: A