On the 13th day of July, 1894, the President issued his proclamation designating the 1st day of March, 1895, as the date for this act to take effect. By act of congress, approved February 23, 1895, it is provided that the act of August 19, 1890, shall not take effect as directed by the president's proclamation, but at some future time, to be determined and proclaimed by the President. Until the issue of such new proclamation, the act of March 3, 1885,1 will be observed and continue in force, except upon the great lakes, where new rules have been enacted to apply.2

The act of 1885 has given rise to considerable uncertainty as to the extent of its application in the navigation of harbors bordering on coast waters, and especially to the navigation of the great lakes. The preamble of this act provides that "the following revised international rules and regulations for preventing collisions at sea shall be followed in the navigation of all public and private vessels of the United States upon the high seas, and in all the coast waters of the United States, except such as are otherwise provided for." The concluding section of this act is a repealing clause, declaring that "all laws and parts of laws inconsistent with the foregoing revised international rules and regulations for the navigation of all public and private vessels of the United States upon the high seas, and in all coast waters of the United States, are hereby repealed, except as to the naviga tion of such vessels within the harbors, lakes and inland waters of the United States." The clause of the repealing section, excepting "harbors, lakes and inland waters," has thrown much doubt upon the extent and scope of the act. In the case of The Aurania and The Republic, Judge Brown, of the southern district of New York, enters into a full discussion of the question, and with much force of reason concludes that it could not have been the intention of congress to have two distinct and conflicting systems of rules by which sea-going

123 U. S. Stat. at L. 438.

2 Act approved Feb. 8, 1895.

329 Fed. R. 98.

vessels are to be governed in navigating harbors bordering upon the ocean, and holds that so far as sea-going vessels are concerned, while navigating from the sea into and through harbors bordering the sea, the international rules govern instead of the old rules prescribed by the Revised Statutes of 1878; but in purely harbor navigation by boats and vessels passing from one part of a harbor to another, beginning and ending in the harbor, not going to or returning from the sea, the old rules prevail, and the international rules do not apply.1

To meet the uncertainty as to the application of the rules of 1885 in the navigation of harbors, rivers and inland waters, excepting the great lakes, congress by act of Febru ary 19, 1895, adopted special rules for the navigation of these waters, by which it is provided that "on and after March 1, 1895, the provisions of sections 4233, 4412 and 4413 of the Revised Statutes and regulations pursuant thereto shall be followed on the harbors, rivers and inland waters of the United States. The provisions of said sections of the Revised Statutes and regulations pursuant thereto are hereby declared special rules duly made by local authority relative to the navigation of harbors, rivers and inland waters as provided for in article 30 of the act of August 19, 1890, entitled 'An act to adopt regulations for preventing collisions

at sea.'

"The secretary of the treasury is hereby authorized, empowered and directed from time to time to designate and define, by suitable bearings or ranges with light-houses, light vessels, buoys or coast objects, the lines dividing the high seas from rivers, harbors and inland waters.

"The words inland waters' used in this act shall not be held to include the great lakes and their connecting and tributary waters as far east as Montreal; and this act shall not in any respect modify or affect the provisions of the act entitled 'An act to regulate navigation on the great lakes

1The Green Point, 31 Fed. R. 231; The Excelsior, 33 Fed. R. 554; The James Bowen, 52 Fed. R. 510.

and their connecting and tributary waters.' Approved February 8, 1895,"1

While the act of February 8, 1895, regulating the navigation of the great lakes and their connecting waters, clearly removes these waters from the operation of the international rules of 1885 and 1890, there yet remains some uncertainty as to whether congress intended to make an exception of these waters in the act of 1885. While the question is not so important since the passage of the special rules governing the navigation of these waters, there yet remains sufficient reason for the discussion of the question as to what law governed the navigation of the great lakes after the adoption of the international rules of 1885 and the passage of the act of February 8, 1895.

Whether congress intended to make an exception of the great lakes in the act of 1885 is somewhat uncertain. In the absence of an express exception, no good reason can be urged why a different set of rules should apply to the great lakes than is applied to the ocean. Their extent, the character of their commerce, and the size of the shipping vexing their waters, all urge the conclusion that congress intended to make no exception to the laws governing their navigation in the act of 1885. These rules were a revision of the old ones, and aimed to supply their deficiencies; and as they covered the whole ground of the former rules, and were plainly designed to supersede them on the high seas, there is every reason to believe that congress intended them to apply to the great lakes. This opinion is supported by the decision of the supreme court in the case of United States v. Rogers, where the court unqualifiedly holds that the great lakes are high seas within the meaning of the statute relating to certain crimes. If they are high seas in one case, no good reason can be urged why they are not high seas in every other particular. In the case of The Garden City, Judge Brown, in an extended opinion, again discusses the question at some length, and concludes that "the act of 1885 was passed with 1 Approved February 19, 1895.

2150 U. S. 249.

3 26 Fed. R. 766.

reference to the whole country; the immediate connection of the words 'inland navigation' with the word 'rivers' in the statute indicates the sense in which these words were intended, namely, navigation within the body of the country.

That the great lakes were not intended to be excepted from the operation of the act of 1885 is evidenced by the fact that many of the lakes are international in their character, forming the boundary between the United States and Canada, and are capable of being navigated by the shipping of the civilized world. The act of 1885 is the result of an international congress, whose recommendations made no exception of the great lakes. Nearly, if not every, nation represented at that congress enacted rules substantially as recommended. By the terms of the rules prescribed by the convention, Canadian and other foreign vessels, as well as those of the United States navigating the waters of the great lakes on the Canadian side of the boundary line, were bound by the international rules as recommended by the convention and adopted by Great Britain and other countries participating. It is to be presumed that congress, in adopting the international recommendations, intended our shipping to be bound by the same rules by which the shipping of other countries was bound; and it is not probable that it intended to except from the operation of the act, the waters of the great lakes, thereby imposing upon American as well as foreign vessels one set of rules while navigating the Canadian side of the lakes and a different set of rules when on the American side. The object of the international congress was to secure a uniform system of navigation, and, if an exception of the great lakes was intended by the act of 1885, one of the objects of the convention would have been defeated.

The circuit court of appeals for the sixth circuit held, erroneously we believe, in the case of The North Star,' that the act of 1885 did not apply to the great lakes.

162 Fed. R. 71.

Sec. 20. Rules of the supervising inspectors.- The board of supervising inspectors derive their authority to prescribe rules for the government of steam vessels from section 4412 of the Revised Statutes of the United States, which provides that "the board of supervising inspectors shall establish such regulations, to be observed by all steam vessels in passing each other, as they shall from time to time deem necessary for safety." In determining the extent of the application of this section, to ascertain over what waters the inspectors' rules extend, it is necessary to construe the above section of the statutes in connection with section 4400 of the same chapter, which provides that "all steam vessels navigating any waters of the United States which are common highways of commerce, or open to general or competitive navigation, excepting public vessels of the United States or vessels of other countries, and boats propelled in whole or in part by steam for navigating canals, shall be subject to the provisions of this title." By which it is plain that the authority of the inspectors to prescribe rules is confined to the navigable waters of the United States. To ascertain whether the navigation of an American vessel is subject to the inspectors' rules, it is only necessary to inquire whether at the time in question she was navigating "any of the waters of the United States." If so, she is undoubtedly within the operation of the rules. If not navigating the waters of the United States, it is equally clear the inspectors' rules do not apply.

The navigable waters of the United States are those internal waters of the country which are used as highways of travel in foreign and interstate commerce. The external waters are those contained within the coast line of the country and a marine league therefrom, and are commonly designated as the coast waters of the United States, although the latter term also includes the harbors, bays and inlets navigable from the sea. While these external waters are high seas, they are nevertheless American waters, and subject to the inspectors' rules, where they do not conflict with the international rules prescribed by congress.