United States v. California

Decision Date31 January 1966
Docket NumberNo. 5,O,5
PartiesUNITED STATES v. CALIFORNIA. rig
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

PER CURIAM.

In accordance with the Court's opinion in United States v. State of California, 381 U.S. 139, 85 S.Ct. 1401, 14 L.Ed.2d 296, proposed decrees have been submitted by the parties. The Court has examined such proposed decrees and the briefs and papers submitted in support thereof, and enters the following decree:

The United States having moved for entry of a supplemental decree herein, and the matter having been referred to the late William H. Davis as Special Master to hold hearings and recommend answers to certain questions with respect thereto, and the Special Master having held such hearings and having submitted his report, and the issues having been modified by the supplemental complaint of the United States and the answer of the State of California thereto, and the parties having filed amended exceptions to the report of the Special Master, and the Court having received briefs and heard argument with respect thereto and having by its opinion of May 17, 1965, approved the recommendations of the Special Master, with modifications, it is ordered, adjudged and decreed that the decree heretofore entered in this cause on October 27, 1947, 332 U.S. 804, 68 S.Ct. 20, 92 L.Ed. 382, be, and the same is hereby, modified to read as follows:

1. As against the State of California and all persons claiming under it, the subsoil and seabed of the continental shelf, more than three geographical miles seaward from the nearest point or points on the coast line, at all times pertinent hereto have appertained and now appertain to the United States and have been and now are subject to its exclusive jurisdiction, control and power of disposition. The State of California has no title thereto or property interest therein.

2. As used herein, 'coast line' means—

(a) The line of mean lower low water on the mainland, on islands, and on low-tide elevations lying wholly or partly within three geographical miles from the line of mean lower low water on the mainland or on an island; and

(b) The line marking the seaward limit of inland waters.

The coast line is to be taken as heretofore or hereafter modified by natural or artificial means, and includes the outermost permanent harbor works that form an integral part of the harbor system within the meaning of Article 8 of the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone, T.I.A.S. No. 5639.

3. As used herein—

(a) 'Island' means a naturally-formed area of land surrounded by water, which is above the level of mean high water (b) 'Low-tide elevation' means a naturally-formed area of land surrounded by water at mean lower low water, which is above the level of mean lower low water but not above the level of mean high water;

(c) 'Mean lower low water' means the average elevation of all the daily lower low tides occurring over a period of 18.6 years;

(d) 'Mean high water' means the average elevation of all the high tides occurring over a period of 18.6 years;

(e) 'Geographical mile' means a distance of 1852 meters (6076.10333 * * * U.S. Survey Feet or approximately 6076.11549 International Feet).

4. As used herein, 'inland waters' means waters landward of the baseline of the territorial sea, which are now recognized as internal waters of the United States under the Convention on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone. The inland waters referred to in paragraph 2(b) hereof include—

(a) Any river or stream flowing directly into the sea, landward of a straight line across its mouth;

(b) Any port, landward of its outermost permanent harbor works and a straight line across its entrance;

(c) Any 'historic bay,' as that term is used in paragraph 6 of Article 7 of the Convention, defined essentially as a bay over which the United States has traditionally asserted and maintained dominion with the acquiescence of foreign nations;

(d) Any other bay (defined as a well-marked coastal indentation having such penetration, in proportion to the width of its entrance, as to contain landlocked waters, and having an area, including islands within the bay, at least as great as the area of semicircle whose diameter equals the length of the closing line across the entrance of the bay, or the sum of such closing lines if the bay has more than one entrance), landward of a straight line across its entrance or, if the entrance is more than 24 ...

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  • Sun Oil Co. v. United States
    • United States
    • U.S. Claims Court
    • February 22, 1978
    ...limit from the coastline.3 See United States v. California, 381 U.S. 139, 85 S.Ct. 1401, 14 L.Ed.2d 296 (1965) and 382 U.S. 448, 86 S.Ct. 607, 15 L.Ed.2d 517 (1966). Section 8 of the OCSL Act, 43 U.S.C. § 1337(a), authorized the Secretary to grant oil and gas leases on OCSL by competitive b......
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    ...as "mean high water,'' an average measure of high water over a 19-year period. Cf. United States v. California, 382 U.S. 448, 449-450, 86 S.Ct. 607, 607-608, 15 L.Ed.2d 517 (1966) (per curiam) (entering decree defining an island as "above the level of mean high water'' and defining mean hig......
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    • Wetlands Deskbook Appendices
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