62
Opinion of the Court
and navigation "shall be made with the mutual consent and approbation of both states" (Article Eighth); and that jurisdiction over criminal offenses shall be determined based on the citizenship of the offender and the victim (Article Tenth). Va. Code Ann. Compacts App., pp. 342-343 (Lexis 2001). Of particular relevance to this case, Article Seventh provided:
"The citizens of each state respectively shall have full property in the shores of Potowmack river adjoining their lands, with all emoluments and advantages there-unto belonging, and the privilege of making and carrying out wharves and other improvements, so as not to obstruct or injure the navigation of the river." Ibid.
Although the 1785 Compact resolved many important navigational and jurisdictional issues, it did not determine the boundary line between the States, an issue that was "left . . . open to long continued disputes." Marine Railway & Coal Co. v. United States, 257 U. S. 47, 64 (1921); Morris, supra, at 224; Rhode Island v. Massachusetts, 12 Pet. 657, 724 (1838). In 1874, Virginia and Maryland submitted the boundary dispute to binding arbitration before a panel of "eminent lawyers" composed of Jeremiah S. Black, James B. Beck, and Charles J. Jenkins. Maryland v. West Virginia, 217 U. S. 577, 579 (1910). On January 16, 1877, the arbitrators issued their award (hereinafter Black-Jenkins Award or Award), placing the boundary at the low-water mark on the Virginia shore of the Potomac.2 Although Maryland was thus granted ownership of the entire bed of the River, Article Fourth of the Award further provided:
"Virginia is entitled not only to full dominion over the soil to low-water mark on the south shore of the Potomac, but has a right to such use of the river beyond the line of low-water mark as may be necessary to the full
2 The "low-water mark" of a river is defined as "the point to which the water recedes at its lowest stage." Black's Law Dictionary 1586 (7th ed. 1999).
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007