Mike,
Even though the Convention on the Contiguous Zone, etc. was intended for
international boundaries, it has been officially anointed by the Supremes as
their guiding principles for the interpretation of internal US boundaries.
Therefore, I think that it would probably govern this situation. I have not
searched out the historic origins of the respective PR and VI claims; but if
they descend from respective Spanish and Danish claims from prior to American
acquisition of these dependencies, then the international standard would be
quite appropriate. Can you elucidate us on the origins of the claims? Is the
Submerged Lands Act involved here?
Because I wrote my message on PRVI without a good map of the region, I obviously
didn't realize that the VI 3nm limit would not reach a median line. While that
does make it a bit complicated, I think that in such a situation the median line
should still stand as an absolute limit for the jurisdiction with the wider
waters. To do otherwise (by allowing wrap-around or any sort of
proportionality) would forever preclude the jurisdiction with the narrower claim
from ever exercising a claim as wide as the other.
My tentative scheme would indeed interpose a band of federal waters between the
median line and the VI 3nm arc. It is tentative, and it could be wrong.
Lowell G. McManus
Leesville, Louisiana, USA
----- Original Message -----
From: <orc@...>
To: <BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2003 11:12 AM
Subject: [BoundaryPoint] Re: PRVI
--- In BoundaryPoint@yahoogroups.com, "Lowell G. McManus"
<mcmanus71496@m...> wrote:
> Earlier, in another context, Mike wrote:
>
> > & the problems of prusvin & prusvis are largely confined to
figuring
> > out how to balance the effects of the 9nm regime of puerto rico
with
> > those of the 3nm regime of the virgin islands
>
> > probably by first giving the 3nm full effect
> > & then wrapping the 9nm around it as much as possible
>
> > tho i could imagine giving them a proportional effect too
> > &or even cutting a clean meridional division between them
> > or some other solution
>
> > but i assume this remains undone & so is only putative in any case
> > & therefore maybe not so pressing or problematic as the others
>
> I, also, assume that this remains undone, but I can tell you
exactly how it
> would be done.
yes i think this is exactly how it would be done if pr & vi were
independent countries
but this is an internal boundary within the united states
where the rules often differ
also
the best maps i have seen indicate that the median line would fall
well outside the 3nm arcs of the virgin islands yet well within the
9nm arcs of puerto rico
so it seems to me your methodology would actually disconnect the
territorial waters of pr from those of vi & interpose a band of
federal waters between them
& incidentally preclude the existence of any prusvi tripoints
& what you are proposing might seem particularly unfair & unamerican
to pr
in giving full effect to vi while needlessly foreshortening pr
owing not to any american law
so i am still expecting
full effect for vi first
followed by full effect for pr all the way to the vi limit
rather than only as far as the median line
& thus 2 wraparound tripoints at the northeasternmost &
southeasternmost extremities of pr waters
where they are only slightly eclipsed by those of vi
but i am glad to have your opinion
>
> The first paragraph of Article 12 of the Convention on the
Territorial Sea and
> Contiguous Zone says:
> _______________________
>
> Where the coasts of two States are opposite or adjacent to each
other, neither
> of the two States is entitled, failing agreement between them to
the contrary,
> to extend its territorial sea beyond the median line every point of
which is
> equidistant from the nearest points on the baselines from which the
breadth of
> the territorial seas of each of the two States is measured.
> _______________________
>
> So, there would first be drawn a median line between the two closest
> Puertorriqueño and Virgin islands. Then the respective 9nm and 3nm
limits would
> extend outward against, but in no wise beyond, the median line.
The median line
> would squarely whack off the arc of each, the wider arc of Puerto
Rico much more
> bluntly so.
>
> The points PRUSVIN and PRUSVIS would be located where the Virgin
3nm arc
> encounters the median line.
>
> Lowell G. McManus
> Leesville, Louisiana, USA
Yahoo! Groups Links
To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BoundaryPoint/
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
BoundaryPoint-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/