790
Opinion of the Court
There are indeed immeasurable and imponderable circumstances and influences besides the mere lapse of time at work to create the conviction that in the interest of stability of order the present possessor should be considered the rightful owner of a territory." 1 Oppenheim, supra, § 242, at 456- 457. We have, however, found 60 years adequate in one case, see Michigan v. Wisconsin, supra, and that holding is enough to open the door to litigation of the relevant period here.
The evidence that has come through the door, however, is too slight to support any finding of prescription. At the outset, we note that two facts exact a discount from the probative force of much of the evidence New York presents. First, as between New York and New Jersey, New York is concededly vested with whatever state sovereignty may be exercised over the original portion of the Island. Second, throughout the entire period of arguable prescription, the Island was entirely occupied by the United States.
We have already seen that Article Second of the Compact recognizes New York's then-existing jurisdiction over Ellis Island and Bedlow's Island as well as its exclusive jurisdiction over the other islands then on New Jersey's side of the boundary. So long as the original Island was all that went by the name of Ellis, there was no question about the referent of any indication of jurisdiction over Ellis Island. But after the Island grew, acts expressly pertaining to the Island but falling short of physical occupation became to a degree vague in the absence of further indication that their subject was the new land as well as the original territory.11 Thus, every reference to "Ellis Island" on a New York tax roll or
11 For this reason there is no prescriptive significance in the fact pointed out by Justice Stevens, post, at 822, that a New York state court exercised jurisdiction over an assault that took place "upon government property at Ellis Island," Rettig v. John E. Moore Co., 90 Misc. 664, 154 N. Y. S. 124 (N. Y. App. Term 1915), there being no indication that the court considered whether the assault took place on the filled portion of the Island.
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