1915, February 20.-Identic note to Germany and Great Britain regarding the sowing of mines upon the high seas and in territorial waters.1 The Government of the United States respectfully suggests that an agreement in terms like the following might be entered into. . . . Germany and Great Britain to agree: First. That neither will sow any floating mines, whether upon the high seas or in territorial waters; that neither will plant on the high seas anchored mines, except within cannon range of harbors for defensive purposes only; . . . URUGUAY 1914, August 7.-Maritime rules of neutrality which ought to be observed in all the ports, roadsteads and territorial and jurisdictional waters of the Republic of Uruguay.2 ARTICLE 2. In accordance with the principle established by the treaty of Montevideo in 1899 (Penal Law, Article 12), and with the principles generally accepted in these matters, the waters will be considered as territorial waters to a distance of five miles from the coast of the mainland and islands, from the visible outlying shoals, and the fixed marks which determine the limit of banks not visible. With regard to bays, the distance of five miles will be measured along a straight line run across the bay at the point nearest its entrance. In addition to the bays or roadsteads established as such by law and custom, those places on the coast will be considered as such which possess their characteristic form and also have an opening of not more than ten miles. For the other boundary waters the rule will be according to each case, the middle line, the thalweg (channel) or the common jurisdiction as determined by the various treaties. and situations. 1 New York Times, Mar. 18, 1915. 2 U. S. Naval War College, International Law Topics, 1916, p. 107; Registro Nacional, 1914, p. 393. FRANCE 1790, December 1.-Law relative to the national domains, concessions and exchanges that have been made, and appanages.1 The National Assembly has decreed, and we order the following: DECREE OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF NOVEMBER 22, 1790. The National Assembly considering, first, that the public domain has during several centuries formed the principal and almost the sole source of the national wealth. . . . Considering, finally, that this principle if given execution in too rigorous a manner might produce great inconvenience in the civil order and cause an infinity of minor evils that always have more or less influence upon the sum of the general welfare; that it comports with the dignity of a great nation and the duty of its representatives to moderate such rigor and to lay down definite rules suitable for reconciling the national interest with that of every citizen,-decrees as follows: I. On the nature of the national domain and its principal divisions. ARTICLE 1. The national domain, properly so called, comprises all real property and all real or mixed rights belonging to the nation whether it has actual possession and enjoyment thereof or has only the right to acquire such possession or actual enjoyment by way of repurchase, reversion or otherwise. ARTICLE 2. The public ways, the streets and places of the towns, navigable rivers and streams, waterfronts, beaches of the sea, ports, harbors, roadsteads, etc., and in general all portions of the national territory that are not susceptible of private ownership are considered as appurtenant to the public domain. . . . 1808, October 19.-Decree of the Prize Council declaring valid the capture of the vessel "Daniel Frederick." 2 992 On June 14, 1808, the Tilsit, a French privateer captured, off Pillau, athwart the headland of Brusterol, an American merchant ship, the Daniel Frederick, which was anchored there at a distance of three or four leagues from the land. When the matter was brought before the Prize Council, an attempt was made to have the capture invalidated on the grounds that it 1 Bulletin des lois, Paris, 1806, vol. 2, 163. See ante., p. 320. * Pistoye et Duverdy, Traité des prises maritimes, vol. 1, p. 102. |