Cite as: 532 U. S. 742 (2001)
Opinion of the Court
drew Ketterer, Attorney General, and Christopher C. Taub and William R. Stokes, Assistant Attorneys General.
Jeffrey P. Minear argued the cause for the United States as amicus curiae. With him on the brief were former Solicitor General Waxman, Assistant Attorney General Schiffer, Deputy Solicitor General Kneedler, and Patricia Weiss.
Leslie J. Ludtke, Associate Attorney General of New Hampshire, argued the cause for plaintiff. With her on the briefs were Phillip T. McLaughlin, Attorney General, and John R. Harrington.
Justice Ginsburg delivered the opinion of the Court. The Piscataqua River lies at the southeastern end of New Hampshire's boundary with Maine. The river begins at the headwaters of Salmon Falls and runs seaward into Portsmouth Harbor (also known as Piscataqua Harbor). On March 6, 2000, New Hampshire brought this original action against Maine, claiming that the Piscataqua River boundary runs along the Maine shore and that the entire river and all of Portsmouth Harbor belong to New Hampshire. Maine has filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that two prior proceedings—a 1740 boundary determination by King George II and a 1977 consent judgment entered by this Court—definitively fixed the Piscataqua River boundary at the middle of the river's main channel of navigation.
The 1740 decree located the Piscataqua River boundary at the "Middle of the River." Because New Hampshire, in the 1977 proceeding, agreed without reservation that the words "Middle of the River" mean the middle of the Piscataqua River's main channel of navigation, we conclude that New Hampshire is estopped from asserting now that the boundary runs along the Maine shore. Accordingly, we grant Maine's motion to dismiss the complaint.
I
New Hampshire and Maine share a border that runs from northwest to southeast. At the southeastern end of the
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