Thomas Barclay

“ The territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions in reference to the sea means such part of the sea adjacent to the coast of the United Kingdom, or the coast of some other part of Her Majesty’s dominions, as is deemed by international law to be within the territorial sovereignty of Her Majesty; and for the purpose of any offence declared by this act to be within the jurisdiction of the admiral, any part of the open sea within one marine league of the coast measured from low-water mark shall be deemed to be open sea within the territorial waters of Her Majesty’s dominions. ”

“ Art. IV. In case of war the adjacent neutral state shall have the right to extend by its declaration of neutrality or by special notification its neutral zone from 6 m. to cannon range from the coast.
Art. V. All ships, without distinction, have the right of inoffensive passage through territorial waters, subject to the belligerent right to regulate, and for purposes of defence to bar, the passage through the said waters for every ship, and subject to the right of neutrals to regulate the passage through the said waters for ships of war of all nationalities. ”

“ Germany still holds in principle to this varying limit of cannon range. Norway has never agreed to the 3 m., maintaining that the special configuration of her coast necessitates the exercise of jurisdiction over a belt of 4 m. Spain lays claim to jurisdiction over 6 m. from her shores. The writers and specialists on the subject are quite as much divided. A British Fishery Commission in 1893 reported that “the present territorial limit of 3 m. ”