John Marshall Harlan II

“ The exercise of Congress' power to admit new States, while it may have international consequences, also entails consequences as between Nation and State. We need not decide whether action by Congress fixing a State's territorial boundary more than three miles beyond its coast constitutes an overriding determination that the State, and therefore this country, are to claim that much territory against foreign nations. It is sufficient for present purposes to note that there is no question of Congress' power to fix state land and water boundaries as a domestic matter. ”

“ Were that rule applicable also to the marginal sea-the premise on which Congress proceeded in enacting the Submerged Lands Act-it is clear that such a boundary would be similarly effective to circumscribe the extent of submerged lands beyond low-water mark, and within the limits of the Continental Shelf, owned by the State. For, as the Government readily concedes, the right to exercise jurisdiction and control over the seabed and subsoil of the Continental Shelf is not internationally restricted by the limit of territorial waters. ”

“ To attempt to apply that clause as fixing the extent of Texas' maritime boundary, immediately upon admission to the Union, no less than in so fixing its land boundaries, would be illusory at best. The parties devote considerable discussion to the validity or invalidity of the asserted three-league maritime boundary under international law. It is true that the propriety of a nation's seaward boundary must be viewed in the context of its obligations vis-a -vis the family of nations. ”

“ To show that the Act admitting Louisiana to the Union must be construed as referring to the Union must Treaty, Louisiana relies on Article III of the Treaty, which required the United States to admit 'the ceded territory' to statehood as soon as possible. But since the historic documents to which our attention has been called fail to show that the ceded territory included any territorial sea, taking the Treaty as defining the scope of the Act of Admission only confirms the view that Louisiana's maritime boundary was fixed at, and not somewhere in, the Gulf of Mexico. ”

“ We need not decide whether the United States ever claimed three leagues of territorial waters along the entire Gulf coast, which could in a sense be said to constitute a national boundary, or whether, if it did, Louisiana would have been entitled to extend its own boundary to that distance. Under the Submerged Lands Act, Louisiana's boundary must be measured at the time of her admission, unless a subsequent change was approved by Congress. ”

“ As to acts touching the development of the submerged lands themselves, the United States would have had no reason to object to activity beyond Louisiana's boundary, since not until 1945 did the Federal Government assert any rights in the Continental Shelf for itself. If any of the other acts alleged conflicted with this Nation's policy toward territorial waters, objection would have lain regardless of the location of the State's boundary, and lack of objection is therefore, for the purposes of this case, inconclusive. ”

“ It may indeed be that the Executive, in the exercise of its power, can limit the enjoyment of certain incidents of a Congressionally conferred boundary, but it does not fix that boundary. If, as in the case of Texas, Congress employs an uncertain standard in fixing a State's boundaries, we must nevertheless endeavor to apply that standard to the historical events surrounding admission. ”

“ In view of the fact that shortly after Louisiana's admission, Congress fixed maritime boundaries for Mississippi and Alabama which, even on Louisiana's construction, would be different than three leagues, we can discern no consistent Congressional policy toward the maritime boundaries of the Gulf States at the time of Louisiana's admission, even if the much later actions with respect to Texas and Florida could be thought to have established such a policy. ”

“ And in 1936, after Mexico had asserted a three-league belt of territorial water along its entire coast, the United States, in denying that the Treaty gave Mexico such a right, adopted both rationales relied on in 1875, and in addition contended that the boundary provision did recognize the territory of the two countries as extending three leagues from the coast, but only in the 'one area' adjacent to the international boundary. ”

“ The United States concedes that the statute grants to each of the defendant States submerged land rights in the Gulf of Mexico to the extent of three geographical miles, but contends that none of them is entitled to anything more. The States, conceding that three leagues is the limit of the statute's grant in the Gulf contend that each of them is entitled to that much. ”

“ Louisiana relies on the holding of the Court that because the eastern boundary of Louisiana was a water boundary along the middle of the river Iberville, extending to the Gulf, it went on to include a deep-water sailing channel in the Gulf adjacent to Mississippi. It also relies on a rough map included in the Court's opinion showing a line drawn all the way around the State's coast at some distance in the Gulf. There is, however, no indication whatever that the line so indicated bore any relation to the three-league provision in the Louisiana Act of Admission. ”

“ Opponents of such legislation quickly pointed out that while California based its three-mile claim on an expressly defined maritime boundary, many, if not most, of the coastal States lacked such a boundary, [22] and that therefore, such States could not avail themselves of the Pollard rule, the applicability of which is restricted to areas within the actual territorial boundaries of the State, even assuming the rule to be capable of application beyond low-water mark. ”

“ If the Act of Admission fixed the boundary at the shore, neither action by Congress fixing greater boundaries for other States nor Executive policy on the extent of territorial waters could constitute Congressional approval of a maritime boundary for Louisiana. ”

“ However, beginning in the 1930's, the Federal Government, while conceding the validity of the Pollard rule as to inland waters, disputed its applicability to submerged lands beyond that limit, and claimed ownership of those lands for the United States. ”

“ The Submerged Lands Act, passed in 1953, by which parts of those lands were relinquished to the States, also forgave any monetary claims arising out of the States' prior use of the lands so relinquished. But the United States remains entitled to an accounting for all sums derived since June 5, 1950, from lands not so relinquished.↑ In light of these conclusions we do not reach the question whether Alabama's cross bill constitutes an 'unconsented' suit against the United States.↑ The same disposition is made of the similar averment in Alabama's answer. ”

“ The relevant portions do not relate to French or Spanish territory at all. [120] In another, Great Britain undertook not to permit its subjects to navigate or fish within 10 leagues of coasts occupied by Spain 'in the Pacific Ocean, or in the South Seas,' so as to prevent illicit trade with Spanish settlements. [121] The Treaty does not relate to the area in question, and, far from being an assertion of a territorial claim by Spain, imposed an obligation of a limited nature on Great Britain alone. ”

“ While the United States demanded and obtained as a war indemnity a large amount of territory west of Texas' claimed boundaries extending to the Pacific coast, see note 100, supra, that fact never obscured this country's firm contention that as to Texas' southwestern boundary-lying along the Rio Grande from the Gulf to what is now New Mexico-the Texan claim based on its 1836 Boundary Act must be maintained against Mexico.↑ 10 Stat. ”

“ Both sides have presented in support of their respective positions a massive array of historical documents, of which we take judicial notice, and substantially agree that all the issues tendered can properly be disposed of on the basis of the pleadings and such documents. ”

“ It is difficult to understand why, if jurisdiction for revenue purposes had been extended by statute to four leagues, the boundary was established only at three leagues if it was drawn solely for that purpose. It is asserted, however, that Mexico concluded a series of treaties with other countries in the latter half of the nineteenth century which established jurisdiction for revenue purposes at three leagues. Treaty between Mexico and China, Art. ”

“ President Polk elected not to use that power.↑ See, e.g., speech of Senator Ashley of Arkansas, Cong.Globe, 28th Cong., 2d Sess., App. 288:↑ Speech of Senator McDuffie of South Carolina, Cong.Globe, 28th Cong., 1st Sess., App. 530: ' (T) he treaty neither does convey, nor is intended to convey, one solitary square foot of land which does not rightfully belong to Texas.' (Emphasis added.) Speech of Senator Walker of Mississippi, id., at 548: ' (W) hen (a nation) is ceded by name, that cession extends only to the country embraced within its lawful boundaries. ”