Texas v. Louisiana

Decision Date20 March 1973
Docket NumberNo. 36,O,36
Citation93 S.Ct. 1215,410 U.S. 702,35 L.Ed.2d 646
PartiesState of TEXAS, Plaintiff, v. State of LOUISIANA. rig
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

See 411 U.S. 988, 93 S.Ct. 2266.

Syllabus

The Special Master's Report, to the extent that it recommends that the relevant boundary between Texas and Louisiana be the geographic middle of Sabine Pass, Lake, and River (collectively Sabine) and not the west bank or the middle of the main channel and that all islands in the east half of the Sabine when Louisiana was admitted as a State in 1812, or thereafter formed, should be awarded to Louisiana, is adopted; decision on the Report with respect to islands in the west half of the Sabine existing in 1812 or thereafter formed, is deferred pending further proceedings, in which the United States is invited to participate, and which the Special Master is to conduct. Pp. 704—714.

Samuel D. McDaniel, Austin, Tex., for plaintiff.

Oliver P. Stockwell, Lake Charles, La., for defendant.

Mr. Justice WHITE delivered the opinion of the Court.

Texas brought this original action against Louisiana to establish its rights to the jurisdiction and ownership of the western half of Sabine Pass, Sabine Lake, and Sabine River (collectively Sabine) from the mouth of the Sabine in the Gulf of Mexico to the thirty-second degree of north latitude, and to obtain a decree confirming the boundary of the two States as the geographic middle of the Sabine. After the motion to file was granted, 397 U.S. 931, 90 S.Ct. 939, 25 L.Ed.2d 113 (1970), Louisiana filed motions, answer, and counterclaim asserting that its boundary was on the west bank of the Sabine; and the case was referred to a Special Master, 398 U.S. 934, 90 S.Ct. 1833, 26 L.Ed.2d 266 (1970).

The Report of the Special Master and the parties' exceptions are now before us. The Special Master's recommendations are that the geographic middle, not the west bank or the middle of the main channel, is the boundary between the two States; that all islands in the Sabine when Louisiana was admitted as a State in 1812 should be awarded to Louisiana subject to prescriptive claims, if any, by Texas to such islands; that all islands formed in the east half of the Sabine after 1812 belong to Louisiana, and those in the west half to Texas. The Special Master contemplates further proceedings to determine what islands were in the Sabine in 1812 and what prescriptive claims Texas may have to such islands. Louisiana's exceptions maintain that its boundary is not the geographic middle but the west bank of the Sabine, or alternatively, the main channel of the stream as it existed in 1812 west of the most westerly islands. Louisiana also claims all islands in the Sabine, whether existing in 1812 or thereafter formed. The exception filed by Texas asserts its right to all islands in the west half of the river but proposes that the question of ownership be deferred pending the outcome of the proposed additional proceedings with respect to islands that may have existed as of 1812.

Oral argument was heard on the exceptions. We now approve and adopt the report of the Special Master except his conclusions with respect to ownership of islands in the western half of the Sabine.

I

In an Enabling Act approved February 20, 1811, 2 Stat. 641, Congress authorized the inhabitants of a portion of the Louisiana Territory ceded under the Treaty between the United States and France on April 30, 1803, 8 Stat. 200, to seek statehood. The Sabine boundary for what was to become the State of Louisiana was described as 'beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine, thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the said river, including all islands to the thirty-second degree of latitude . . ..' 2 Stat. 641. The 1812 Louisiana Constitution described the State's western boundary in substantially the same manner,1 and the Act of Admission of April 8, 1812, 2 Stat. 701, employed language identical to that of the Enabling Act.

Preceding this period, and for some time thereafter, the western boundary of the United States was in doubt. Negotiations between the United States and Spain from 1803 until 1819 culminated in the Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits, 1819, 8 Stat. 252. Under this treaty, the boundary 'between the two countries' was in relevant part established along the west bank of the Sabine, 8 Stat. 254; the United States relinquished all of Texas west of that boundary in exchange for Florida and the Spanish claim to the Oregon Territory; and it was provided that all islands in the Sabine belonged to the United States.

The United States renewed its efforts to acquire Texas, and when Mexico declared its independence from Spain in 1821, the United States began negotiating anew for the purchase of Texas. In the Treaty of Limits, 1828, 8 Stat. 372, the United States and Mexico recognized the boundary 'between the two countries,' id., at 374, on the west bank of the Sabine as established in the 1819 treaty with Spain.2 Texas declared its independence from Mexico in 1836, 1 Laws, Republic of Texas, 3—7, in Gammel's Laws of Texas 1822—1897, was recognized as an independent nation by the United States in 1837, Cong.Globe, 24th Cong., 2d Sess., 83, 270, and in 1838 the Sabine boundary agreed upon with Spain in 1819, and with Mexico in 1828, was adopted by the United States and Texas, 8 Stat. 511.3 The Sabine boundary remained unchanged when Texas was admitted as a State in 1845, 9 Stat. 108.

In 1848 the legislatures of Texas and Louisiana passed competing resolutions, each requesting consent of Congress to establish its jurisdiction over the Sabine between the middle and the western bank.4 Congress passed an Act in 1848 giving its consent to Texas to extend its eastern boundary from the west bank of the Sabine to the middle, 9 Stat. 245, the Act stating:

'(T)his Congress consents that the legislature of the State of Texas may extend her eastern boundary so as to include within her limits one half of Sabine Pass, one half of Sabine Lake, also one half of Sabine River, from its mouth as far north as the thirty-second degree of north latitude.' (Emphasis added.)

II

We agree with the Special Master that the western boundary of Louisiana is the geographical middle of the Sabine River, not its western bank or the middle of its main channel. Congress had the authority to admit Louisiana to the Union and to establish the boundaries of that State. U.S.Const., Art. IV, § 3; United States v. Louisiana, 363 U.S. 1, 30, 60—62, 67, 80 S.Ct. 961, 979, 994, 995, 999, 4 L.Ed.2d 1205 (1960); Washington v. Oregon, 211 U.S. 127, 134—135, 29 S.Ct. 47, 48, 49, 53 L.Ed. 118 (1908). Hence, our task is to ascertain congressional will when it admitted Louisiana into the Union on April 8, 1812, and established her relevant western boundary as 'beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine; thence, by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river, including all islands to the thirty-second degree of latitude . . ..' 2 Stat. 702. The statute in this respect was identical with the Enabling Act of the prior year and differed hardly at all from the Preamble to the Louisiana Constitution of January 22, 1812. The Louisiana Legislature resolved in 1848 that the State's jurisdiction should be 'extended' to the western half of the river, reciting that neither it nor any other State had authority over that portion of the Sabine. See n. 4, supra. Texas made a similar request, see n. 4, supra, Congress acceding to the latter and consenting that Texas could 'extend her eastern boundary so as to include within her limits one half of Sabine Pass, one half of the Sabine Lake, also one half of Sabine River, from its mouth . . . (to) the thirty-second degree of north latitude.' 9 Stat. 245. On the floor of the Senate, Mr. Butler, speaking for the Judiciary Committee, stated that the boundaries of the United States extended to the western shore of the Sabine, but that the boundary of the State of Louisiana extended only to the middle, the result being that 'the half of the river and lake, to the western shore, belonged to the United States, and was not included in the State of Louisiana . . ..' Cong.Clobe, 30th Cong., 1st Sess., 882. Hence the bill, which gave 'the half of the river beyond the boundary of the State of Louisiana to the State of Texas . . ..' Ibid. The bill passed, both Senators from Louisiana expressing 'their acquiescence in the arrangement.' Ibid.5

There is not a whisper in these statutes and instruments that the western boundary of Louisiana was on the west bank of the Sabine. Clearly, the boundary was along the 'middle' of the Sabine, not on the west bank. Louisiana argues, without substance we think, that the boundary was extended to the west bank by the Treaties of 1819 and 1828 with Spain and Mexico respectively, when the United States established and confirmed its own western boundary on the west bank of the Sabine. As the Special Master correctly noted, however, the United States was acting in its sovereign capacity throughout these events, and there is no indication that the United States was in any way representing Louisiana or intending to relocate the State's western border. Nor was there reason to do so. On the contrary, admission of States beyond the Sabine was some day contemplated, and it was more consistent with the policy of the United States to grant only the east half of the river to Louisiana and reserve the west half for a future State or States. See United States v. Holt State Bank, 270 U.S. 49, 55, 46 S.Ct. 197, 199, 70 L.Ed. 465 (1926); Shively v. Bowlby, 152 U.S. 1, 26—28, 57—58, 14 S.Ct. 548, 557, 558, 569, 38 L.Ed. 331 (1894).

The Special Master was also correct in ruling that the United States intended the geographic middle of the river, not of the main channel, or thalweg, to be the western boundary of the State. The argument that the middle of the main channel was intended rests...

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