711.529/12
The Chargé in Spain (Johnson) to the Secretary of
State
Madrid, March 4,
1924.
[Received March 20.]
No. 271
Sir: With reference to the Department’s
unnumbered Instruction of September 10th last directing this Embassy
to report in detail concerning the extent of the territorial waters
over which the Spanish Government claims jurisdiction in connection
with contraband and fisheries and as regards its bearing upon the
enforcement of prohibition on Spanish vessels within American
territorial waters, I have the honor to report as follows:
As regards the first section of the Instruction under acknowledgment,
a note was sent to the Spanish Foreign Office upon receipt of the
Department’s Instruction, setting forth the quotations mentioned by
the Department, asking for a statement as to the present practice of
the Spanish authorities, their opinion as to the fisheries control
and requesting citation of the dates and numbers and any data which
might assist the Embassy in looking up Spanish laws,
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agreements, treaties or regulations
dealing with the extent of Spanish jurisdiction over the territorial
waters claimed by Spain. The matter was urged by personal
representations at the Foreign Office and a written reminder was
eventually sent in. The answer, herewith enclosed in copy and
translation, was received at this Embassy on February 28th last. The
Royal Decree of November 23rd, 1914 mentioned in the Foreign
Office’s aforesaid note, was transmitted to the Department in
duplicate in this Embassy’s despatch No. 185 of December 8th,
1914.70b
Article 2 of this Decree gives the extent of three miles for Spanish
neutral waters in conformity with the 13th Convention of the
Hague,70c
approved by the Decree.
As regards the second part of the Instruction under acknowledgment,
there is enclosed herewith a memorandum written after a careful
study of the matter by a member of the staff, and from which it
appears that there is only one Spanish citation amongst the
footnotes mentioned; this citation does support the statement in the
text as far as the de jure side of it is
concerned. There is, however, no mention of the neutral zone. The
changing of the neutral zone to three miles was sanctioned by the
Royal Decree of November 23rd, 1914 above mentioned, but the note
from the Spanish Foreign Office explicitly states that such
reduction was only provisional and until the termination of the war;
this leads to the obvious inference that the jurisdiction over
territorial waters claimed by Spain for all purposes, now extends to
within six miles of the coast.
As regards the 3rd part of the Instruction under acknowledgment, it
has not been possible up to the present to secure any statement or
expression of opinion which would carry weight, from any responsible
Spanish official on this subject; but the matter is being borne in
mind and supplementary information on this point will be forwarded
as soon as it is possible to get the concrete and practical views of
one or more Spanish officials.
I have [etc.]
[Enclosure
1—Translation]
The Spanish Foreign
Office to the American
Embassy
No. 22
Note Verbale
With reference to the courteous notes No. 70 and 118 from the
Embassy of the United States, the Ministry of State has the
honor to inform the Embassy that, after the disappearance of the
causes
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which brought
about the Royal Decree of November 23rd, 191470d in which Spain accepted provisionally until
the termination of the war and only as regards neutrality, the
reduction of the territorial waters to three miles—its
jurisdiction over such waters extends to six miles, in
conformity with that which has always been its extent.
Madrid, February 28th,
1924.
[Enclosure 2]
Memorandum by the Second Secretary of the
Embassy in Spain (Riggs) on the Department’s Unnumbered Instruction of
September 10, 1923 in re the Extent of Territorial Waters
Over Which Jurisdiction Is Claimed by Spain
There is no Spanish Authority cited in support of the statement
in the text. The only Spanish citation is from Vol. 56 of the
“Coleccion Legislativa de Espana”, of the year 1852, page 194,
article 18, paragraph 10, of which copy and translation are
attached and which is an extract from the Spanish Royal Decree
of June 20th, 1852, countersigned by Juan Bravo Murillo,
Minister of Hacienda,
“ordering the enforcement, with various
changes, of the bill-of-law concerning the jurisdiction
of the fiscal and revenue authorities and the repression
of contraband and fraud, which has been approved by the
Senate.”
It should be noted that the data given in the Department’s
above-mentioned Instruction concerning the year and the Article,
are erroneous.
The Spanish of the above citation is as follows:
“Art. 18. Se incurre en delito
de contrabando …71
Sec. 10. Por andar con buque
nacional o extranjero de porte menor que el permitido
por los reglamentos e instrucciones, conduciendo generos
prohibidos o procedentes del extranjero en puerto no
habilitado, o en bahia, cala o ensenada de las costas
espanolas, o por bordear estos sitios dentro de la zona
de dos leguas, o sean seis millas que se halla senalada,
aun cuando lleve su carga consignada para puerto
extranjero, a menos que no sea por arribada forzosa en
los casos de infortunio de mar, persecucion de enemigos
o piratas, o averia que inhabilite el buque para
continuar su navegacion.”
and the translation is as follows:
“Art. 18. The crime of
contraband is constituted by …71
Sec. 10. Running a national or
foreign vessel of smaller tonnage than permitted by the
regulations or instructions, carrying
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prohibited or foreign
goods, into an unauthorized port, bay, inlet or cove of
the Spanish coasts; and by sailing along the coast in
the vicinity of these places within the zone of two
leagues, or six miles mentioned above, even though the
cargo be consigned to a foreign port—unless it is a case
of forced landing in distress, attack by enemies or
pirates, or disablement preventing the ship from
continuing its voyage.”
The “mentioned above” refers to Section 7 of the same Art. 18,
which reads as follows:
“Sec. 7. Por la extraccion del
territorio espanol de efectos de cualquiera especie,
cuya exportacion este prohibida por las leyes,
reglamentos u ordenes vigentes, y por su conduccion
dentro de la zona proxima a las costas y fronteras en
que por las mismas leyes y reglamentos este prohibida su
circulacion, o por su detentacion en la misma zona sin
los requisitos que en aquellas disposiciones esten
prescritos.”
and in translation:
“Sec. 7. By the exportation
from Spanish territory of any kind of goods of which the
exportation is forbidden by the existing laws,
regulations or orders, and by the conveyance thereof
within the zone adjacent to the coasts and frontiers in
which the circulation of such goods is prohibited by the
same laws and regulations; or by the possession thereof
within that same zone without the fulfilment of the
prerequisites required by those regulations.”
Hence it would seem that the text of the Spanish Royal Decree
cited does support the statement cited in the extract from the
Columbia Law Review, reproduced in
the Department’s Instruction.
