Coll 30/186 'Oil: Koweit Territorial Waters. Jurisdiction over the sub-soil beneath the sea. Off-Shore Oil in the Persian Gulf.' [‎259r] (518/737)

Ql IEIIXG III LES 10 LANDS BENEATH NAVIGABLE WATERS
the Federal Government ^ In the Seventy-fifth Congress, Senator Nye intro
duced a joint resolution « providing that the Federal Government claimed the
marginal sea and all its resources for the United States and authorizing^he At-
faw as trSnaiere br J^. 1 pr ^ ee ^ 1 ? 1 8 s to expel its existing occupants under State
I?™ T a r trespassers. U hile the joint resolution passed the Senate it did not pass
t e House. House hearings were held upon the Nye resolution in 1938 and noon
the subsequent resolution of Representative Hobbs, 30 which made an exception
or all existing vested rights. These vested interests had already grown to such
finn qfnH ^ p P osltlon to tlle passage of either the Nye or Hobbs resolu
tion (and 13 others) was so great as to defeat the resolutions and strengthen
the accepted view that the'marginal sea belongs to the States. g
7;~;. a/:* " " cie 1,0 ue overtnrown it would seem that the title
Senate 8 H dfcW C rcco f/ uzed ' 0n 19 - 1945, it was announced that the
qtoW . Ju . dl . c . ia .9 Committee was reporting out a resolution recognizing the
States jurisdiction m the marginal sea. 6 ^
remaining question involves the jurisdiction to grant licenses for explora
tion m the subsoil beyond the 3-mile limit. Here analogy, practice, and practical
consideration all point to the propriety of vesting this jurisdiction in the littoral
btate. If the State has primary jurisdiction in the marginal sea, there is every
reason why it should also have jurisdiction over a contiguous zone on the Con
tinental Shelf for the purpose of controlling the exploitation of its submarine
resources. Possibly no greater claim, such as ownership of the waters or the
assTrt ni in g 1938 ‘"pm? ft° Iie ’ is ,j ust,f ]^ d or necessary, as Louisiana undertook to
assert in 1938. But it is not readily conceivable that another sovereign the
federal Covernment, should lay claim to a contiguous zone, thus inserting a
|X ge a f K lt§ mvn licensees, for all or some special purposes, between a
btate and its free access to the open sea.
Looking first at State and Federal practice we find the following evidence: Of
tw 22 r? alSta f 1,1 • the J Sta . tes 3 classes may be distinguished; first,
i u?' i*/- 1 " e ^ e n ri 8 m al 13 Colonies; second, Texas; and third, the States
admitted from territories of or cessions acquired by the United States. The first
group were independent countries or States and never surrendered to the Federal
Government their boundary on the open sea or their common-law jurisdiction over
the marginal seas or submarine resources beyond. 32 These they still retained when
acquiring statehood. Texas claimed ownership or jurisdiction over 3 leagues or
^State hi 1845 « rgina ^ ^ StiU retained that jurisdiction after admission as
told the House Judiciary Committee in 1938 that the tideland and submereedlandwerei,,fhliel/nH,n^;
IKgS'Kgis;
stzt***’ *—■ ™
33 rt irih' „!" ou ‘ slal ' ! )' s Twenty-seven Mile Maritime Belt, (1939-39) 13 Tulane L Rev 253
belt as between^Mexic^and^^'unfte^State^^ma^^ (1 , AIal '? ! y ‘l 07 ’ n ? 9) - :nakin ^lea^'es the marginal