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File 4480/1923 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf: Naval Incidents: Visits of British Warships to Persian Ports: Persian Territorial Waters Bill.’ [‎534r] (1080/1662)

The record is made up of 1 volume (823 folios). It was created in 22 Nov 1923-8 May 1934. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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[This Document is the Property of His Britannic Majesty’s Government.
CONFIDENTIAL.
FIRST CODIFICATION CONFERENCE.
* oo Q *
Memorandum by His Majesty s Government in Great Britain in re'ply to the Schedule
of Points drawn uf by the Preparatory Committee for the First Codification
Conference.
Territorial Waters.
I.—His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain agree that the rights which
States possess over their territorial waters are rights of sovereignty.
They are not aware of any case in which special rights of another State are
recognised, restricting or excluding the rights of the coastal State in the belt.
II-—^The sovereign rights of the coastal State extend to the air space above,,
and to the sea bottom below, the belt of territorial waters, and also to the sub-soil
below that sea bottom.
HI-—(&•) The breadth of the belt of territorial waters subject to the sovereignty
of the coastal State is 3 miles.*
(&.) His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain do not admit and have always
protested against the claim of any foreign State to exercise sovereignty over a
greater breadth of territorial water than 3 miles.*
(c.) No claim is made by His Majesty’s Government in Great Britain to exercise
rights over the high seas outside the belt of territorial waters.
There are certain banks outside the 3-mile limit off the coasts of various
British dependencies on which sedentary fisheries of oysters, pearl oysters, chanks
or beches de mer on the sea bottom are practised, and which have by long usage come
to be regarded as the subject of occupation and property. The foregoing answer is
not intended to exclude claims to the sedentary fisheries on these banks. The
question is understood to relate only to claims to exercise rights over the waters of
the high seas.
(d) Claims by foreign States to exercise rights of jurisdiction or control over
the waters of the high seas adjacent to the belt of territorial waters of those States
have never been admitted and have always been objected to by His Majesty’s
Government in Great Britain.
His Majesty’s Government admit that the speed of modern vessels and aircraft
and the immense range and power of modern implements of warfare may render
a belt of 3 miles insufficient to prevent injurious consequences resulting in the
national territory from acts which have taken place on the high seas, but this affords
no sufficient argument for a change in the 3-mile limit. To ensure that no injurious
consequence should result within the national territory from an act which has taken
place on the high seas, it would be necessary to establish a belt so wide as to constitute
a serious encroachment on the high seas. A belt of such width would lead to perpetual
disputes. The difficulty of determining with accuracy whether a vessel is within
the coastal belt would be increased very largely if the width of that belt were
increased, as the greater the distance from the shore, the more difficult it is to fix
by reference to the shore the exact position of the vessel. Furthermore, the burden
imposed on neutral States in time of war would be intolerable.
His Majesty’s Government accept the view that no State can be expected to
tolerate with equanimity, circumstances arising under which, owing to peculiar
local circumstances, the absence of jurisdiction over foreign vessels on the high seas
immediately contiguous to its territorial waters may prejudice gravely the enforce
ment of the laws, or the well-being of the community within its territory.
* Note.—T he word “ miles,” wherever used in the present memorandum, should be understood to mean
nautical miles, of which there are sixty to a degree.
4:524:A [18373] b

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Content

This volume contains papers, mostly correspondence and India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Political and Secret Department minute papers, relating to naval incidents in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. , and visits of British warships to Persian ports.

It includes correspondence regarding the following: the Persian Government’s objection to British shipping, including HM Ships, calling at Persian ports without notice; the reporting of movements of British warships in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; the treatment of HM ships in Persian ports, including Persian quarantine and customs procedure at Henjam and Abadan; incidents which took place on the occasions of the visits of HM Ships Lupin and Crocus to Abadan and Bunder Abbas [Bandar Abbas] respectively; the Persian draft bill regarding territorial waters; discussions between the Admiralty and the Foreign Office concerning the drafting of an article to regulate visits of British warships to Persian ports, for inclusion in a General Treaty between Britain and Persia; and new regulations imposed by the Persian Government in connection with the landing of officers and crews and of visits of vessels to Persian ports.

The main correspondents are as follows: the India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ; the Foreign Office (including the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Sir Austen Chamberlain); HM Minister, Tehran (Sir Percy Lorraine, Sir Robert Henry Clive, and Sir Reginald Hervey Hoare, successively); HM Chargé d’Affaires, Tehran; the Admiralty; the Colonial Office; the Minister of Court, Persia (Mirza Abdul Hussein Khan Taimourtache [Abdolhossein Teymūrtāsh, also spelled Teymourtache in the correspondence]); the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs; the Political Resident A senior ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul General) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Residency. in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; the Government of India Foreign and Political Department; the Senior Naval Officer, Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ; and the Commander-in-Chief, East Indies.

The file includes several documents in French, including: correspondence between Sir R H Clive and Taimourtache; copies of documents entitled ‘Projet de Loi portant Réglement des Conditions d’Admission des Bateaux étrangers dans les Eaux persanes’ (Draft Law Regulating the Conditions of Admission of Foreign Vessels in Persian Waters) ‘Traduction de l'Instruction adressée par l'Administration centrale de l'Hygiène à ses Fonctionnaires au golfe Persique’ (Translation of the instructions sent by the Public Health Department to its officials in the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ) and ‘La Quarantaine à Henjam’ (Quarantine in Henjam); correspondence between HM Minister, Tehran, and the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs; letters from the Director of Customs, Bushire, to HM Consul, Bushire; and articles of draft General Treaty with Persia.

The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.

Extent and format
1 volume (823 folios)
Arrangement

The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.

The subject 4480 ( Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. ) consists of two volumes, IOR/L/PS/10/1098 and IOR/L/PS/10/1099. The volumes are divided into two parts, with each part comprising one volume.

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the inside back cover with 825; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. An additional foliation sequence is present in parallel between ff 114-119; these numbers are also written in pencil, but are not circled.

Written in
English and French in Latin script
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File 4480/1923 Pt 2 ‘Persian Gulf: Naval Incidents: Visits of British Warships to Persian Ports: Persian Territorial Waters Bill.’ [‎534r] (1080/1662), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/10/1099, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100069901563.0x000051> [accessed 28 March 2024]

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