Cite as: 521 U. S. 1 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
States had demonstrated a "firm and continuing international policy" of enclosing waters between the mainland and island fringes as inland waters, sufficiently well defined to cover the waters of Mississippi Sound. Rather, the inquiry was whether the States had demonstrated that the Sound met the specific requirements for a historic inland waters claim under Article 7(6) of the Convention. In the context of that claim, the variation or imprecision in the United States' general boundary delimitation principles might have been irrelevant because the State could point to specific federal assertions that Mississippi Sound consisted of inland waters. But variation and imprecision in general boundary delimitation principles become relevant where, as here, a State relies solely on such principles for its claim that certain waters were inland waters at statehood. The United States is therefore free to argue that any 10-mile rule is not sufficiently well defined to support Alaska's claim that the waters of Stefansson Sound constitute inland waters.
C
Alaska argues that even if principles of collateral estoppel do not apply, the evidence before the Master established that the United States had a well-defined, "firm and continuing" 10-mile rule that would require treating certain areas along Alaska's Arctic Coast as inland waters. The Master exhaustively cataloged documents and statements reflecting the United States' views and practices on boundary delimitation, both in its international relations and in disputes with various States, between 1903 and 1971. The Master found that "the exact nature of the United States' historic practice is a matter of some intricacy," and concluded that any 10-mile rule was not sufficiently well defined to require treating the waters of Stefansson Sound as inland waters. Report 55. Alaska argues that the Master afforded "undue significance to minor variations in the way the United States expressed its otherwise consistent policy over time, ignoring the prin-
15
Page: Index Previous 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007