Ortolan, a French publicist of eminence, writing about the same time, not only adopted the principle of Bynkershoek, but affirmed in a positive manner that the extent of the territorial sea should correspond to the actual range of artillery at the time.[1119] Although the gunshot limit was the one recognised, there was nothing, he says, to hinder two or more states from fixing between themselves, by treaty, another limit, but such would be binding only on those who were parties to the agreement. Bays and arms of the sea whose shores belong to the same state are also territorial, provided that their width does not exceed twice the actual range of guns, or that the entrance can be commanded by artillery, or is naturally protected by islands, banks, or rocks. Within the territorial sea as thus defined the state has the power of making laws and regulations for its safety, prosperity, and interests, but it has not the right of property,—Ortolan, like so many other writers, drawing a distinction between property and jurisdiction. The opinion that the real range of guns is the true principle for the determination of the extent of the territorial sea was also affirmed by Hautefeuille, another French writer of authority.[1120] According to him, it extends to the distance a ball can be actually thrown from the shore and no farther. Within the space thus commanded the rights of the state are absolute, both in regard to jurisdiction and property, and even to the prohibition of navigation. The right of fishery is exclusive, since the products of the sea are not inexhaustible, and the pursuit of them requires to be kept under proper regulation. On this view, therefore, the fisheries of right belong to the neighbouring state up to the limit of gunshot from the coast.

Other French writers of authority have maintained the same opinion as to the principle for the delimitation of the territorial waters. Thus, Pistoye and Duverdy[1121] state that each Power is able, in a given zone, measured by the range of cannon, to impose its laws and enforce obedience to them. It cannot take bodily possession of the waves, but it can maintain over them direct and constant domination. While there has been much discussion, they say, as to the extent of the territorial sea, the principle upon which its appropriation rests serves also to determine its bounds, “and it must be acknowledged that the range of cannon from the shore is the only real and true boundary of the sea in question.”[1122] No measure, they add, has been generally agreed upon between different nations as to the distance which the range of guns may be supposed to cover; but they think the eyes of experienced officers on the coast may be trusted to judge how far a given spot is within the distance. Still another French author of repute expressed the same view as to the extent of the territorial sea. Massé, in his elaborate work on commercial law in relation to the law of nations,[1123] pointed to the fact that the arbitrary opinions of the older writers had been rejected, and stated that the real basis of delimitation was the range of guns—a distance which he places at “about three miles”; but he says that this rule is not always followed in practice. Bays and gulfs are declared to be undoubtedly part of the territorial sea, even when they are not capable of being defended from the shore. The reasons for this opinion are the same as those advanced by Hubner—namely, that such areas form natural harbours and anchorages, sheltering vessels from tempests: the vessels are thus under the protection of the coasts, and consequently of the sovereign of the coasts. The true boundary in such cases Massé regards as the line joining the headlands, or passing between the islands that may lie off the mouth, even if the distance be greater than the range of guns, or than what has been fixed by convention for an open coast.

It is obvious from the above review of the opinions of publicists in the first half of last century that no complete agreement had been reached in theory or principle respecting the extent of the territorial sea. Many of the writers held to the opinions expressed by Puffendorf, Wolff, and Vattel, which allowed a more or less wide and vague jurisdiction in the neighbouring sea for the security of the state; and most of them refer to the cannon-range limit as the one usually adopted. Few, however, accept the three-mile boundary as an alternative to the range of guns: most of the authors indeed do not even mention it, and those who do, appear to have been guided in the main by Lord Stowell’s decisions. On the other hand, the later of the French writers affirm that the boundary of the territorial waters is determined by the actual range of artillery from the shore at the time, which is a virtual repudiation of the three-mile limitation. Their view is summed up by Pistoye and Duverdy when they say that the principle on which the appropriation of the bordering sea rests serves also to determine its bounds—i.e., control and command from the shore.

CHAPTER III.
THE FISHERY CONVENTIONS.

Compared with the eighteenth century and the earlier part of the nineteenth, the period which has elapsed since the close of the Napoleonic wars has been singularly free from occurrences raising the question of the extent of the territorial sea in connection with the rights of belligerents and neutrals. There has been no great maritime war in Europe since the enormous advance in the power of artillery rendered the three-mile limit untenable for the security of a neutral state against the operations of belligerents in the sea off its coasts, though some questions involving the inadequacy of that limit came to the front during the civil war in America. The chief questions affecting the boundary of the territorial waters were concerned with sea fisheries, and several conventions were made between European nations in which limits were fixed for exclusive fishing. They originated in the perennial disputes between British and foreign fishermen.

In previous chapters it has been shown that the intermittent efforts of the British Government to establish an exclusive right to the fisheries along the coasts of this country were without definite result, except that it came to be tacitly understood by the Dutch fishermen that they should keep out of sight of the shore. At various times during the eighteenth century complaints were made to the Government of the encroachments of Dutch, French, and Danish fishermen along our coasts and in the Channel, and representations were in several instances made to the foreign Government concerned. An examination of these complaints shows that in many cases the foreigners were alleged to fish within the bays and close to the shore, destroying the spawn and brood of fish. In other cases they were accused of fishing in British waters when they were between three and four, or even between six and seven, miles from the coast,—the real ground of complaint being that they occupied the localities where the fish were most abundant, and where the native fishermen mostly carried on their industry.[1124] From causes previously described, the number of Dutch fishermen frequenting the British coasts diminished very much during the eighteenth century, while at the same time French fishermen, and on the coast of Scotland also Danes and Prussians, as well as fishermen from the Austrian Netherlands, came in increasing numbers. During the war with France and Holland the fishermen of these nations were unable to pursue their fishing on the British coasts. But shortly after the restoration of peace they returned, and complaints of their encroachments, especially on the coast of Scotland and the south coast of England, soon became prevalent. In 1819 the Board of British White Herring Fishery received numerous complaints of foreign, and more particularly Dutch, herring-busses shooting their nets too near the coasts, and committing depredations on the lines and nets of the native fishermen. The Board were urged to prevent foreigners from fishing “within a certain distance” of the shore; but they considered they had no power to do so, and forwarded copies of the petitions to the Lords of the Treasury. The clamour continued, and in 1821, and again in 1822, the Board strongly recommended the Government to take action. In the latter year the Government made representations on the subject to the Government of the Netherlands; and as a result a royal decree was issued in 1824 by the King of the Netherlands prohibiting Dutch fishermen from fishing on the main coast of Scotland, or even, in the absence of urgent necessity, from approaching it within a distance of two leagues, twenty making a degree, or twice the limit of three miles.[1125] In 1827—and thus only twelve years before the Anglo-French convention fixed a three-mile limit—this Dutch ordinance was renewed, and from that time few complaints were made of the encroachments of Dutch herring-busses on the Scottish coast. They continued to conduct their herring fishery, for the most part, at distances ranging from twelve or fourteen to forty or fifty miles, as they still do at the present day.

As the disputes with the Dutch fishermen were thus amicably arranged by the recognition of a six-mile zone of reserved water, similar contentions sprang up, and continued for a long period, with fishermen from France. In 1824, some years after the peace, they began to frequent the coast of Scotland, and they came in great numbers in each succeeding year, fishing at the Shetlands, Orkneys, and along the north and east coasts from Cape Wrath to Berwick, and down the English coast as far as Flamborough Head.[1126] Several circumstances connected with the French fishery tended to provoke disputes. While the Dutch fished from their busses at a distance from the coast, where the largest and best herrings were caught, and were forbidden under heavy penalties from buying or selling herrings while at sea, or even from entering any foreign port except by reason of urgent necessity, the French fished, as a rule, near the shore from small boats, which they even hired for the season, not uncommonly from Scotch fishermen. They frequented the Scottish ports; they bought herrings in large quantities surreptitiously from native boats engaged to local fish-curers, for money, brandy, tobacco, biscuits, and other articles; and they were allowed to dry their nets, and even sometimes to salt their herrings, on shore for a small payment.[1127] They were thus intimately associated with the native fishermen along the coast, and they carried on their fishery near the shore in the waters which were mostly used by the natives.

In the English Channel disputes between British and French fishermen were still more frequent and acrimonious. British naval supremacy during the long war had given a monopoly of the fisheries to the people of the English coast, but after peace was concluded French fishermen swarmed in the Channel, and began to fish along the English shores. Complaints became rife of the decadence of the English fisheries, owing to the alleged encroachments of the French and a general diminution in the abundance of fish. In 1833 a Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to inquire into the state of the British Channel fisheries and the laws affecting the fishing trade of England, with a view to their amendment. After taking evidence, the Committee reported that they found those fisheries, and the interests connected with them, to be in a very depressed and declining state; that the decline had begun with the peace in 1815; that the number of fishermen and boats had diminished; and that the fishermen and their families were indigent.[1128]

The principal causes of the depression were found to be the extensive interference and aggressions of the French fishermen on the coasts of Kent and Sussex, the large quantity of foreign-caught fish illegally imported, and the great decrease and comparative scarcity of fish in the Channel. Large fleets of French fishing vessels from Calais, Boulogne, Dieppe, and other ports were in the habit of fishing along the English coasts, frequently within half a league of the shore, and occasionally nearer, as well as in the bays and shallow waters, “in which,” said the Committee, “it is particularly necessary for the preservation of the brood of fish, that such as frequent those waters during the breeding season should not be disturbed, or their young destroyed before they have attained maturity.” The French fishing vessels were more numerous and larger than the English boats,—between two and three hundred coming from Boulogne alone,—and they had caused great injury to the nets and gear of the English fishermen, especially in the herring and mackerel seasons. At other times of the year it was proved that they were in the habit of coming in great numbers every morning into English bays, and dragging there for bait in the shallow waters close upon the shore, taking and destroying an immense quantity of young and unsizeable fish, at periods when they were prevented by French laws from conducting similar operations in their own bays.[1129] These laws, the Committee reported, were understood to be enforced also against English fishermen within three leagues of the coast of France; on approaching nearer they were warned off by French cruisers, and told that they would not be allowed to fish within that distance.