State of Louisiana v. State of Mississippi

• Decision Date: 05 March 1906
• Docket Number: O,No. 11,11
• Citation: 202 U.S. 1,26 S.Ct. 408,50 L.Ed. 913
• Parties: STATE OF LOUISIANA, Complainant , v. STATE OF MISSISSIPPI. riginal
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

202 U.S. 1

26 S.Ct. 408

50 L.Ed. 913

STATE OF LOUISIANA, Complainant,

v STATE OF MISSISSIPPI.

No. 11, Original.

Argued October 10, 11, 12, 1905.

Decided March 5, 1906.

The state of Louisiana, by leave of court, filed her bill against the state of Mississippi, October 27, 1902, to obtain a decree determining a boundary line between the two states, and requiring the state of Mississippi to recognize and observe the line so determined.

The bill alleged:

'1st. That the state of Louisiana was admitted into the Union of the United States of America by the act of Congress found in chapter 50 of the United States Statutes at Large, vol. 2, page 701, approved April 8th, 1812, and therein the boundaries of the said state of Louisiana, in the preamble of said act, were described as follows:——

'Whereas, the representatives of the people of all that part of the territory or country ceded under the name of 'Louisiana,' by the treaty made at Paris on the 30th day of April, 1803 [8 Stat. at L. 200], between the United States and France, contained within the following limits, that is to say: Beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine, thence by a line drawn along the middle of said river, including all islands to the 32d degree of latitude; thence due north to the northernmost part of the 33d degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the River Mississippi; thence down the said river to the River Iberville, and from thence along the middle of said river and Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico; thence bounded by the said gulf to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast,' etc.

'2nd. That according to the foregoing description, the eastern boundary of the state of Louisiana was formed by the Mississippi river, beginning at the northeast corner of said state and extending south to the junction of the said river with the River Iberville (now known as Bayou Manchac), and thence extending eastwardly through the lower end of the Amite river, through the middle of Lake Maurepas, Pass Manchac, and Lake Pontchartrain, and in order to reach the Gulf of Mexico its only course was through the Rigolets, into Lake Borgne, and thence by the deep-water channel through the upper corner of Lake Borgne, following said channel, north of Half Moon island, through Mississippi sound to the north of Isle a Pitre, through the Cat Island channel, southwest of Cat island, into the Gulf of Mexico, which said eastern boundary of the state of Louisiana is more fully shown on diagram No. 1, made part of this bill. [See ante.]

'3rd. That by the act of Congress found in the United States Statutes at Large, vol. 2, p. 708, chap. 57, approved April 14th, 1812, additional territory was added to the then-existing state of Louisiana which additional territory was described in the following language:——

'Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the River Mississippi; thence along the middle of the Iberville, the River Amite, and of the Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the eastern mouth of the Pearl river; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl river to the 31st degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the River Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the said state of Louisiana.'

'4th. That the effect of this legislation, as to the eastern boundary of the state of Louisiana, was to retain the Mississippi river as the original eastern boundary, as far south as the 31st degree of north latitude. The change then moved the eastern boundary eastward along the 31st degree of north latitude to the Pearl river, whence it then ran south down the said river, through its eastern branch, till it entered the northern corner of Lake Borgne, where the state's eastern boundary then joined and followed the boundary line originally fixed in the act of April 8th, 1812, and followed, as heretofore stated the deep-water channel through the upper corner of Lake Borgne, north of Half Moon island, eastward through the deep-water channel along the Mississippi sound till it reached the Cat Island channel north of Isle a Pitre, and southwest of Cat island, whence passing through Chandeleur sound, northeast of Chandeleur islands, it entered the Gulf of Mexico, and ran south around the delta of the Mississippi river and then north and westward to the point where the Sabine river enters the Gulf of Mexico, as will be more fully seen from the diagram No. 2, made part of this bill. [See ante.]

'5th. That the territory lying adjacent to, and to the eastward of, the state of Louisiana, is the state of Mississippi, which latter state was admitted into the Union of the United States of America by the act of Congress found in the United States Statutes at Large, vol. 3, chap. 23, page 348, approved March 1st, 1817, whereby the inhabitants of the western part of the then Mississippi territory were authorized to form for themselves a state constitution and to be admitted into the Union, the boundaries of the then-to-be-created state being described as follows:——

'Beginning on the River Mississippi at the point where the southern boundary line of the state of Tennessee strikes the same; thence east along the said boundary line to the Tennessee river; thence up the same to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of the county of Washington [Alabama]; thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico; thence westwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore to the most eastern junction of Pearl river with Lake Borgne; thence up said river to the 31st degree of north latitude; thence west along the said degree of latitude to the Mississippi river; thence up the same to the beginning.'

'6th. That by the said act, Congress intended that the southern boundary line of the state of Mississippi, beginning at the point dividing it from the state of Alabama, should run westwardly till it joined the Louisiana eastern boundary line, and that, in doing so, the said southern boundary would in effect start westward from a point 18 miles south of the coast line, and include in its westwardly direction the western end of Petit Bois island, all of Horn island, Ship island, and Cat island, and the smaller islands north of these, those islands being the ones contemplated in the act of Congress, as being within 18 miles of the southern coast line of Mississippi, and that the said southern boundary of Mississippi, extending in its westwardly direction through the Gulf of Mexico, would gradually approach the coast line, and meet the eastern boundary line of Louisiana, just as the said eastern boundary line of Louisiana emerges from the Cat Island channel into the Gulf of Mexico, and thence follow and become the same as the Louisiana boundary line extending westwardly to the south of Cat island, through Mississippi sound to the north of Half Moon or Grand island to the most southern junction of the east branch of the Pearl river with Lake Borgne, being identical with the Louisiana eastern boundary, and thence estending up the channel of Pearl river.

'7th. That the islands included between the shore line and the southern boundary of the state of Mississippi are the islands heretofore described, viz.: the western end of Petit Bois island, with all of Horn island, Ship island, and Cat island, and the small islands north of them, those islands being large, and well known to Congress at the time of the passage of the act, all of which islands and the southern boundary of the state of Mississippi will more fully appear from the diagram No. 3, made a part of this bill. [See ante.]

'8th. That the islands contemplated in the act of Congress of [April 8] 1812, creating the state of Louisiana, and intended to be embraced within the state of Louisiana, as provided by the clause, 'Thence bounded by the said gulf to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast,' were all of the other islands, except those heretofore named as going to the state of Mississippi, as all other islands, and all other mainland, are south and west of the boundary line thus passing from Pearl river through the deep-water channels in Lake Borgne and Mississippi sound, through the deep-water channel southwest of Cat island to the eastward of the Chandeleur islands, and thence south, taking in the delta of the Mississippi river, and extending westward along the Gulf coast, including all islands along the coast, to the Sabine river, where the state of Louisiana is thence bounded on the westward by the state of Texas, all of which will more fully appear from diagram No. 2, heretofore referred to.

'9th. Now your orator avers that there has developed in recent years in the waters south of the state of Mississippi and east of the southern portion of the state of Louisiana a considerable growth of oysters, and an industry of large proportions, in the handling of said bivalves, either in their fresh or in a canned condition, has resulted therefrom.

'10th. That the state of Mississippi has by legislative enactments, regulated the oyster industry in the waters of said state, and permits the dredging of oysters on the natural oyster reefs in waters of the said state, as will more fully appear from the statutes of said state to which reference is made.

'11th. That the state of Louisiana has, by legislative enactments, regulated the oyster industry in the said state of Louisiana, and prohibits the dredging of oysters on the natural reefs in the waters of said state, as will more fully appear from the statutes of said state to which reference is made.

'12th. That the provisions of the laws of the said two states differ considerably in many other respects.

'13th. That the existence and location of the natural oyster reefs in the waters of the parish of St. Bernard, in the state of Louisiana, which...