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Jurisdiction over narrow waters did not coincide completely with them, as in the Tymoon Sofs, which is the Strait through which passes nearly all the inter-island sea commerce of Hong Kong, which is not more than a rifle shot across. It has been contended by glimpses from vague and fugitive obiter dicta of writers on International Law, I fear that this will be conflicting opinions on the Bench here, and that an administration of the Law will sink in the estimation of the Chinese in proportion as its principles become unintelligible.
7. In such places the Chinese and English jurisdictions speaking broadly cease at the middle, as would be the case with a River, so that strictly Police could not pursue a Criminal beyond that central line. I do not believe that such is the Law, and, if it be, I do not believe it to be a Law either possible to observe here or politic to maintain. On the other hand, if there be nothing to guide us but imperfect analogies,
If Your Lordship looks at the Marine league line on the enclosed map, you will find that, if the Chinese Government were to exercise concurrent Jurisdiction over all waters within a Marine league from their own Coast, they could claim jurisdiction over a large portion of Victoria Harbour, were it not for the cession of Kowloon in October 1860, with a view to the maintenance "of Law and Order in and about the Harbour.