APPENDIX.

The compact printed in this apendix is a State Document of such extraordinary character and binding force upon the high contracting parties, as well also of great importance to the citizens of this State, that I deem it my imperative duty to give it permanent form in this volume.

JOS. L. CAHALL,

Secretary of State..

APPENDIX.

COMPACT BETWEEN THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY AND THE STATE OF DELAWARE, RELATING TO THE BOUNDARY CONTROVERSY BETWEEN SAID STATES.

Whereas, A controversy hath heretofore existed between the States of New Jersey and Delaware, relative to the jurisdiction of such portion of the Delaware River as is included within the circle of twelve mile radius, an arc of which constitutes the Northern boundary of the State of Delaware, and it is the mutual desire of said States to so settle and determine such controversy as to prevent future complications arising therefrom;

And Whereas, There is now pending in the Supreme Court of the United States, a cause wherein the said State of New Jersey is the complainant and the said State of Delaware is the defendant, in which cause an injunction has been issued against the State of Delaware restraining the execution of certain statutes of the State of Delaware relating to fisheries in said river, which said litigation hath been pending for twenty-seven years and upwards;

And Whereas, For the purpose of adjusting the differences between the said two States arising out of said conflict of jurisdiction, Edward C. Stokes, Robert H. McCarter, Franklin Murphy and Chauncey G. Parker, have been appointed Commissioners on the part of the State of New Jersey by joint resolution of the Legislature of said State, and Preston Lea, Robert H. Richards, Herbert H. Ward and George H. Bates have been appointed Commissioners on the part of the State of Delaware, by joint resolution of the General Assembly of said State to frame a compact or agreement between the said States and legislation consequent thereon, to be submitted to the Legislatures of said two States for action thereon, looking to the amicable termination of said suit between said States now pending in the Supreme Court of the United States, and the final adjustment of all controversies relating to the boundary line

APPENDIX.

between said States and their respective rights in the Delaware River and Bay.

Now Therefore, The said State of New Jersey, by its Commissioners above named, and the said State of Delaware, by its Commissioners above named, do hereby make and enter into a compact or agreement between said States as follows;

Article I: Criminal process issued under the authority of the State of New Jersey against any person accused of an offence committed upon the soil of said State, or upon the Eastern half of said Delaware River, or committed on board of any vessel being under the exculsive jurisdiction of that State, and also civil process issued under the authority of the State of New Jersey against any person domiciled in that State, or against property taken out of that State to evade the laws thereof, may be served upon any portion of the Delaware River between said States from low-water mark on the New Jersey shore to low-water mark on the Delaware shore, except upon Reedy and Pea Patch Islands, unless said person or property shall be on board a vessel aground upon or fastened to the shore of the State of Delaware, or the shores of said Islands, or fastened to a wharf adjoining thereto, or unless such person shall be under arrest or such property shall be under seizure by virtue of process or authority of the State of Delaware.

Article 2: Criminal process issued under the authority of the State of Delaware against any person accused of an offence committed upon the soil of said State, or upon the Western half of said Delaware River, or committed on board of any vessel being under the exclusive jurisdiction of that State, and also civil process issued under the authority of the State of Delaware against any person domiciled in that State, or against property taken out of that State to evade the laws thereof, may be served upon any portion of the Delaware River between said States from low-water mark on the Delaware shore to low-water mark on the New Jersey shore, unless said person or property shall be on board a vessel aground upon or fastened to the shore of the State of New Jersey, or fastened to a wharf adjoining thereto, or unless such person shall be under arrest, or such property shall be

APPENDIX.

under seizure by virtue of process or authority of the State of New Jersey.

Article 3: That inhabitants of the said States of Delaware and New Jersey shall have and enjoy a common right of fishery throughout, in and over the waters of said river between low-water marks on each side of said river between the said States, except so far as either State may have heretofore granted valid and subsisting private rights of fishery.

Article 4. Immediately upon the execution hereof the Legislature of the State of New Jersey shall appoint three Commissioners to confer with three Commissioners to be immediately appointed by the General Assembly of the State of Delaware for the purpose of drafting uniform laws to regulate the catching and taking of fish in the Delaware River and Bay between said two States, which said Commissioners for each State respectively shall, within two years from the date of their appointment, report to the Legisture of each of said States the proposed laws so framed and recommended by said joint Commission. Upon the adoption and passage of said laws so recommended by the respective Legislature of said two States said laws shall constitute the sole laws for the regulation of the taking and catching of fish in the said river and bay between said States. Said laws shall remain in force until altered, amended or repealed by concurrent legislation of the said two States. Said Commissioners shall also ascertain the dividing line between said river and bay, and upon each of the shores of said two States, where said dividing line extended shall intersect the same, shall, at the joint expense of said States, erect a suitable monument to mark the said dividing line. Said dividing line between said monuments shall be the division line between the said river and bay for the interpretation of and for all purposes of this compact, and of the concurrent legislation provided for therein.

The faith of the said contracting States is hereby pledged to the enactment of said laws so recommended by said Commissioners, or to such concurrent legislation as may seem judicious and proper in the premises to the respective Legislatures thereof.

APPENDIX.

Each State shall have and excercise exclusive jurisdiction within said river to arrest, try and punish its own inhabitants for violation of the concurrent legislation relating to fishery herein provided for.

Article 5: All laws of said States relating to the regulation of fisheries in the Delaware River not inconsistent with the right of common fishery hereinabove mentioned, shall continue in force in said respective States until the enactment of said concurrent legislation as herein provided.

Article 6. Nothing herein contained shall effect the planting, catching or taking of oysters, clams or other shell fish, or interfere with the oyster industry as now or hereafter carried on under the laws of either State.

Article 7: Each State may, on its own side of the river, continue to exercise riparian jurisdiction of every kind and nature, and to make grants, leases and conveyances of riparian lands and rights under the laws of the respective States.

Article 8: Nothing herein contained shall affect the territorial limits, rights or jurisdiction of either State of, in or over the Delaware River, or the ownership of the subaqueous soil thereof, except as herein expressly set forth.

Article 9: This agreement shall be executed by the said Commissioners, when, authorized to do so by the Legislatures of the said States. It shall thereupon be submitted to Congress for its consent and approval. Upon the ratification thereof by Congress it shall be and become binding in perpetuity upon both of said States; and thereupon the suit now pending in the Supreme Court of the United States, in which the State of New Jersey is complainant and the State of Delaware is defendant, shall be discontinued, without costs to either party, and without prejudice. Pending the ratification hereof by Congress said suit shall remain in statu quo.

Done in two parts (one of which is retained by the Commissioners of Delaware, to be delivered to the Governor of that State, and the other one of which is retained by the Commissioners of New Jersey, to be delivered to the Gov