Stephen Johnson Field

“ As to the Great Lakes of North America, there has never been any doubt. They are in the heart of the continent, far above the flow of the tide from the sea. Lake Michigan is wholly within the limits and dominion of the United States, and of those states of the Union which surround it. ”

“ According to all the authorities, without exception, 'the high seas' denote the ocean, the common highway of all nations, sometimes as including, sometimes as excluding, bays and arms of the sea, or waters next the coast, which are within the dominion and jurisdiction of particular states,-but never as extending to any waters not immediately connecting with the sea. ”

“ There are, as said above, high seas on the Mediterranean, (meaning outside of the inclosed waters along its coast,) upon which the principal commerce of the ancient world was conducted, and its great naval battles fought. To hold that on such seas there are no high seas, within the true meaning of that term,-that is, no open, uninclosed waters, free to the navigation of all nations and people on their borders,-would be to place upon that term a narrow and contracted meaning. ”

“ It is true that lakes, properly so called,-that is, bodies of water whose dimensions are capable of measurement by the unaided vision,-within the limits of a state, are part of its territory, and subject to its jurisdiction; but bodies of water of an extent which cannot be measured by the unaided vision, and which are navigable at all times in all directions, and border on different nations or states or people, and find their outlet in the ocean, as in the present case, are seas, in fact, however they may be designated ”

“ If a murder be committed on board of an American vessel, by one of the crew, upon another, or upon a passenger, or by a passenger on one of the crew or another passenger, while such vessel is lying in a port within the jurisdiction of a foreign state or sovereignty, the offense is cognizable and punishable by the proper court of the United States in the same manner as if such offense had been committed on board the vessel on the high seas. ”

“ So a large body of navigable water other than a river, which is of an extent beyond the measurement of one's unaided vision, and is open and unconfined, and not under the exclusive control of any one nation or people, but is the free highway of adjoining nations or people, must fall under the definition of 'high seas,' within the meaning of the statute. ”

“ The Mediterranean sea, opening directly into the Atlantic ocean at the straits of Gibraltar, and washing the shores of many countries of different sovereigns, has, excepting such portions thereof as the gulf of Venice or the straits of Messina, been recognized and considered by all nations, for centuries, as part of the high seas, free to all mankind. ”

“ In The Genesee Chief Case, this court, in considering whether the admiralty jurisdiction of the United States extended to the Great Lakes, and speaking, through Chief Justice Taney, of the general character of those lakes, said: 'These lakes are, in truth, inland seas. Different states border on them on one side, and a foreign nation on the other. A great and growing commerce is carried on upon them between different states and a foreign nation, which is subject to all the incidents and hazards that attend commerce on the ocean. ”

“ The law of England is supposed to be the same. It is true that the jurisdiction of a nation over a vessel belonging to it, while lying in the port of another, is not necessarily wholly exclusive. We do not so consider or so assert it. ”

“ It is to be observed, also, that the term 'high,' in one of its significations, is used to denote that which is common, open, and public. Thus, every road or way or navigable river which is used freely by the public is a 'high' way. ”

“ In other countries, large bodies of water, greater than many bodies denominated 'seas,' are called 'lakes,' 'gulfs,' or 'basins.' The nomenclature, however, does not change the real character of either, nor should it affect our construction of terms properly applicable to the waters of either. ”

“ The intention of the legislature is to be collected from the words they employ.' 'To determine that a case is within the intention of a statute, its language must authorize us to say so. It would be dangerous, indeed, to carry the principle that a case which is within the reason or mischief of a statute is within its provisions so far as to punish a crime not enumerated in the statute, because it is of equal atrocity, or of kindred character, with those which are enumerated.' 5 Wheat, 95, 96. ”

“ That arm or branch of the sea which lies within the fauces terrae, where a man may reasonably discern between shore and shore, is, or at least may be, within the body of a county, and therefore within the jurisdiction of the sheriff or coroner. ”

“ Many seas are tideless, and the waters of some are saline only in a very slight degree.
The waters of Lake Superior, the most northern of these lakes, after traversing nearly 400 miles, with an average breadth of over 100 miles and those of Lake Michigan, which extend over 350 miles, with an average breadth of 65 miles, join Lake Huron, and, after flowing about 250 miles, with an average breadth of 70 miles, pass into the river St. ”

“ The Caspian and the Black sea naturally belong to this class.' And he proceeds to show that the rights of other nations than Turkey and Russia to navigate the Black sea from the Mediterranean rest upon treaties, only. 1 Phillim. Int. Law, (3d Ed.) arts. 155, 205, 205a. See, also, Wheat. Int. Law, § 182, and note; treaty of 1826 of the United States with the Ottoman empire, art. ”