611.00244/110
The Assistant Secretary of State (Moore) to the British Ambassador (Lindsay)
My Dear Mr. Ambassador: I have received your note of June 17, 1935, expressing the views of the British Government on some of the provisions of the Anti-Smuggling Bill (H.R.7980) which has passed the House and is now before the Senate, and requesting information regarding the meaning of the terms “summarily” in Section 5 and “districts” in Section 6 of the Bill.
A copy of your note has been forwarded to the Secretary of the Treasury, in whose Department the Bill was drafted, with a request for the specific information desired, and upon the receipt of his reply, I shall not fail to inform you promptly thereof.
Your note expresses the view of your Government that under international [Page 6] law a country has no right to interfere with foreign ships outside the limits of territorial waters, except in so far as such a right is granted by treaties with regard to the ships of a particular foreign country. In this regard may I invite your attention to the fact that the pending Anti-Smuggling Bill in Section 1 (b), which relates to customs enforcement areas, contains the following language:
“Provided that nothing contained in this section or in any other provision of law respecting the revenue shall be construed to authorize or to require any officer of the United States to enforce any law thereof upon the high seas upon a foreign vessel in contravention of any treaty with a foreign government enabling or permitting the authorities of the United States to board, examine, search, seize or otherwise to enforce upon such vessel upon the high seas the laws of the United States except as such authorities are or may otherwise be enabled or permitted under special arrangement with such foreign government.”
A similar proviso is contained in Section 202 (h) of the same Bill relating to the boarding of vessels.
I am [etc.]