PM–9. Editorial Note
On December 18, 1958, the National Assembly of Panama enacted Law No. 58 which extended to twelve miles the breadth of the territorial waters of the Republic of Panama. Responding on January 9, 1959, the Department of State, through the Embassy at Panama City, protested this action and informed the Ministry of Foreign Relations that the United States Government was under no obligation to recognize a territorial sea limit of more than three miles and hoped that the [Typeset Page 894] Republic of Panama would reconsider its action. In its reply of January 21, 1959, the Ministry of Foreign Relations rejected the arguments that the Embassy had advanced in its note of January 9. Documentation on this subject is in decimal file 719.022.