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Page 245 a maximum area of the seas free from national jurisdiction and should do nothing which would encourage other countries to apply The Hague Court principles in a manner detrimental to our interests.

6. The International Position. The fact is, however, that some other countries, including Norway, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, Yugoslavia, Egypt and France (the last-named to a limited extent), had already adopted the new principles to a greater or lesser extent even before the announcement of The Hague Court's judgment. Iceland, which had adopted them on her northern coast before the announcement, has subsequently applied them to the remainder of her coast line. There is considerable pressure from fishing interests in Greenland and the Faroes for the adoption of the principles by the Danish Government. All this is part of a general tendency in favour of the extension of territorial limits which has only been strengthened by The Hague Court's judgment. Even in the Common- wealth there is no chance of solid opposition to the new principles. The position now is that Her Majesty's Government cannot seriously challenge base-lines adopted by other countries as long as they apply The Hague Court principles in a reasonable fashion. The interests of Her Majesty's Government would there- fore appear to be best served by exercising a moderating influence without, at the same time, adopting an attitude so hostile to the new principles that it would have little or no support outside the United Kingdom. Moreover by accepting base-lines we are more likely to obtain support from other countries for our efforts to maintain the principle that the actual belt of territorial waters should be limited to 3 miles (except where there is a valid prescriptive claim to a wider limit); a principle to which all Departments attach importance.

7. The International Law Commission, which is a body of jurists established by the United Nations to make recommendations to the General Assembly for the codification of international law, is intending to study the questions of the delimitation and breadth of territorial waters, and will probably be issuing a report in 1953. The rapporteur of the Commission has recently produced a first report to provide the basis of the Commission's discussion. In this he recommends the general acceptance of The Hague Court base-line principles for indented coasts, though with some safeguards (such as the limitation of the length of base-lines to 10 miles in some cases). Although it is impossible to prophesy what the Commission itself will recommend, it seems most improbable that there will be any general return to the stricter methods of delimitation still applied by the United Kingdom or that any great degree of international support for such an attitude could be obtained.

8. In the circumstances there would appear to be no advantage to be gained from postponing a decision to apply The Hague Court principles to the United Kingdom.

9. Action Required to Apply The Hague Court Principles. If it is decided to adopt The Hague Court principles, it will be necessary—

(a) to introduce legislation providing for the definition of the new limits of the territorial waters of the United Kingdom, Colonies, Protectorates, &c.;

(b) to consider whether certain international treaties, namely the Anglo-French Fishery Convention of 1839 and the North Sea Fisheries Convention of 1882, which lay down limits based on the previous conception of the law, should be abrogated or amended by agreement. This action will be necessary to secure the full benefits of the new principles for our inshore fishermen.

10.

Recommendation. For the reasons given above, my recommendation is that a decision in principle should now be taken to accept the use of the base-line method for the delimitation of territorial waters round the United Kingdom and that the interdepartmental official committee on territorial waters should be instructed to prepare specific recommendations on the following points:

(a) the timing of any public statement on the subject and the date when the decision should be put into effect, bearing in mind the desirability of prior consultation with the Commonwealth and with the United States and other Governments;

(b) the detailed definition of the exact waters to be claimed around the United Kingdom on the basis of a reasonable and moderate application of the principles laid down by The Hague Court;

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Page 46af5 be taken in regard to the Anglo-French Fishery Convention