1335. COAST LINE, Limits of.—
The
rule of the common law is that wherever
you can see from land to land, all the water
within the line of sight is in the body of the
adjacent country, and within common law
jurisdiction. Thus, if in this curvature
[ILLUSTRATION] you can see from a to b, all the
water within the line of sight is within common
law jurisdiction, and a murder committed
at c is to be tried as at common law.
Our coast is generally visible, I believe, by the
time you get within about twenty-five miles.
I suppose that at New York you must be
some miles out of the Hook before the opposite
shores recede twenty-five miles from each
other. The three miles of marine jurisdiction
is always to be counted from this line of sight.—
To Albert Gallatin. Washington ed. iv, 559.
Ford ed., viii, 319.
(M.
1804)
