it to the United States in 1803. If the land in dispute had been validly ceded to France in 1800 then Spain would not have been able to grant title to it subsequent to its treaty with France. There was some dispute between Spain and the United States as to whether the land (which was east of the Mississippi in what was then called West Florida) had been part of the territory ceded by Spain to France and ultimately to the United States.

Chief Justice Marshall noted that in a controversy of this kind involving the national boundary the judiciary is commonly bound by the construction given the treaty by the political departments of the Nation and that the United States had acted on the view that the land had been ceded by Spain in 1800. The United States had taken possession of part of West Florida and legislated with regard to it. Thus, in the view of the Court the 1804 Spanish grant to Foster was invalid.

The Court further held that an 1819 treaty between Spain and the United States ceding East and West Florida to the United States did not alter the situation, despite language in that treaty referring to the ratification of earlier grants by the Spanish king. The Court, 27 U.S., at 314, noted that a treaty could, by its own terms either be self-executing or not:

Our Constitution declares a treaty to be the law of the land. It is, consequently, to be regarded in courts of justice as equivalent to an act of the legislature, whenever it operates of itself without the aid of any legislative provision. But when the terms of the stipulation import a contract, when either of the parties engages to perform a particular act, the treaty addresses itself to the political, not the judicial department; and the legislature must execute the contract before it can become a rule for the Court.

The court concluded that the 1819 treaty, because of its particular language, required legislation for its implementation. Since no legislation was passed to provide for the confirming of Spanish titles in the area of the land in dispute the court held that Foster's suit had been properly dismissed.

Dept. of State File L/ARA.

The Treaty between the United States and France for the Cession of Louisiana was signed on Apr. 20, 1803 (TS 86; 8 Stat. 200; 7 Bevans 812; entered into force on Oct. 21, 1803).

The Treaty of Amity, Settlement, and Limits between the United States and Spain was signed on Feb. 22, 1819 (TS 327; 8 Stat. 252; entered into force on Feb. 22, 1821; terminated on Apr. 14, 1903, by the Treaty of Friendship and General Relations between the United States and Spain signed on July 3, 1902). For other portions of Assistant Attorney General Harmon's letter of Nov. 1, 1977, to Chairman Sparkman, see post, Ch. 7, §7, pp. 585–590.

For further information concerning the Panama Canal Treaties of 1977, see generally post, Ch. 7, § 7, pp. 575–596.

§3

Amendment and Modification

Amendment Procedure

In his July 28, 1977, announcement of the signing of H.R. 186, a bill to implement the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea done October 20, 1972 (TIAS 8587; entered into force July 15, 1977), President Carter expressed the following constitutional reservation about section 3 (d):

Although I have signed this bill, I want to make clear that I have serious constitutional reservations about section 3(d). That section permits Congress, by concurrent resolution, to disapprove a proposed amendment to the convention. The Congress concurrent resolution would not be presented to the President for approval or veto. This may violate Article I, Section 7 of the Constitution.

13 Weekly Comp. of Pres. Doc. 1129 (Aug. 1, 1977).

Section 3 of the enacted H.R. 186, the International Navigational Rules Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-75; 91 Stat. 308-309), reads as follows:

SEC. 3. (a) The President is authorized to proclaim the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the "International Regulations"). The effective date of the International Regulations for the United States shall be specified in the proclamation and shall be the date as near as possible to, but no earlier than, the date on which the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 (hereinafter referred to as the "Convention"), signed at London, England, under date of October 20, 1972, enters into force for the United States. The International Regulations proclaimed shall consist of the rules and other annexes attached to the Convention.

(b) The proclamation shall include the International Regulations and shall be published in the Federal Register. On the date specified in the proclamation, the International Regulations shall enter into force for the United States and shall have effect as if enacted by statute.

(c) Subject to the provisions of subsection (d) hereof, the President is also authorized to proclaim any amendment to the International Regulations hereafter adopted in accordance with the provisions of article VI of the Convention, and to which the United States does not object. The effective date of the amendment shall be specified in the proclamation and shall be in accordance with the provisions of the said article VI. The proclamation shall include the adopted amendment and shall be published in the Federal Register. On the date specified in the proclamation, the amendment shall enter into force for the United States as a constituent part of the International Regulations, as amended, and shall have effect as if enacted by

statute.

(d) (1) Upon receiving a proposed amendment to the International Regulations, communicated to the United States pursuant to clause 3 of article VI of the Convention, the President shall promptly notify the Congress of the proposed amendment. If, within sixty days after receipt of such notification by the Congress, or ten days prior to the date under clause 4 of article VI for registering an objection, whichever comes first, the Congress adopts a resolution of disapproval, such resolution shall be transmitted to the President and shall constitute an objection by the United States to the proposed amendment. If, upon receiving notification of the resolution of disapproval, the President has not already notified the Inter-Governmental Maritime Consultative Organization of an objection to the United States to the proposed amendment, he shall promptly do so. (2) For the purposes of this subsection, "resolution of disapproval" means a concurrent resolution initiated by either House of the Congress, the matter after the resolving clause of which is to read as follows: "That the (the concurring) does not favor the proposed amendment to the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972, relating to

and forwarded to the Congress by the President on .", the first blank space therein to be filled with the name of the resolving House, the second blank space therein to be filled with the name of the concurring House, the third blank space therein to be filled with the subject matter of the proposed amendment, and the fourth blank space therein to be filled with the day, month, and year.

(3) Any proposed amendment transmitted to the Congress by the President and any resolution of disapproval pertaining thereto shall be referred, in the House of Representatives, to the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries, and shall be referred, in the Senate, to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

33 U.S.C. 1601.

Art. VI of the Convention, entitled Amendments to the Regulations, follows: 1. Any amendment to the Regulations proposed by a Contracting Party shall be considered in the Organization at the request of that Party.

2. If adopted by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in the Maritime Safety Committee of the Organization, such amendment shall be communicated to all Contracting Parties and Members of the Organization at least six months prior to its consideration by the Assembly of the Organization. Any Contracting Party which is not a Member of the Organization shall be entitled to participate when the amendment is considered by the Assembly. 3. If adopted by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting in the Assembly, the amendment shall be communicated by the Secretary-General to all Contracting Parties for their acceptance.

4. Such an amendment shall enter into force on a date to be determined by the Assembly at the time of its adoption unless, by a prior date determined by the Assembly at the same time more than one-third of the Contracting Parties notify the Organization of their objection to the amendment. Determination by the Assembly of the dates referred to in this paragraph shall be by a two-thirds majority of those present and voting.

5. On entry into force any amendment shall, for all Contracting Parties which have not objected to the amendment, replace and supersede any previous provision to which the amendment refers.

6. The Secretary-General shall inform all Contracting Parties and Members of the Organization of any request and communication under this Article and the date on which any amendment enters into force.

The Report submitted by Chairman John M. Murphy of the Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee of the House of Representatives concerning H.R. 186 noted that on Oct. 10, 1976, President Ford vetoed H.R. 5446, a bill to implement the Convention, substantially because of a provision that permitted either the Senate or House of Representatives to veto with "a bare majority" a proposed amendment to the Convention's regulations. H. Rept. No. 95-447, 95th Cong., 1st Sess. 4(1977). Chairman Murphy's House Report indicates further that H.R. 186 is "substantially identical" to H.R. 5446 except that "the method for congressional disapproval of proposed amendments was changed" to "a concurrent resolution of both Houses . . . ."

For further information concerning H.R. 5446 and an Executive order to implement the Convention, see the 1976 Digest, Ch. 7, § 12, pp. 394-395. For information concerning the International Navigational Rules Act of 1977, see post, Ch. 7, § 12, pp. 630–633.

Multilateral Conventions

Adopting an Additional Authentic Language Text

On September 30, 1977, Betty C. Dillon, Chief of the U.S. Delegation to the 22nd Session of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly, and William M. McQuade, U.S. Delegate to the International Conference (Conference) on the Authentic Russian Text of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, jointly signed for the United States a protocol established by the Conference for the purpose of adopting an authentic Russian language text of the Convention on International Civil Aviation done on December 7, 1944 (Convention) (TIAS 1591; 61 Stat. 1180; Bevans 944; 15 UNTS 295; entered into force for the United States on April 14, 1947). The Full Power authorizing this joint signing indicated that this protocol amending the Convention would be transmitted to the President for ratification by and with the advice and consent of the U.S. Senate.

The U.S. Position Paper to this Conference indicates how this Protocol, prepared by an ICAO Working Group composed of representatives of Czechoslovakia, Costa Rica, Yugoslavia, France, and the Soviet Union, would amend the Convention by providing for a Russian language text in addition to the previously existing English, French, and Spanish texts and how another protocol agreeing upon the Russian language text developed by the Conference would be required:

Three distinct steps are essential to the establishment of the authentic Russian language text:

(1) A text in the Russian language of the Chicago Convention, as well as all its amendments to date, must be developed which has the

same meaning in all substantive respects as the previously adopted authentic English, French and Spanish texts;

2) The Chicago Convention itself must be amended to provide for the Convention to be equally authentic in the Russian language in addition to the English, French and Spanish languages; and

3) There must be developed a Protocol by the approval of which States would signify their respective endorsement of the particular Russian language text to be the authentic Russian text pursuant to the Convention, as amended.

While the amendment of the Chicago Convention would permit an authentic Russian language text, a separate action is necessary to permit States to signify their agreement that a particular Russian text is the one which those States wish to have considered as authentic. The Working Group has developed a Protocol which would permit this separate action, following generally the Protocol on the Authentic Trilingual Text done at Buenos Aires in 1968.

The Protocol on the Trilingual Text was the agreement by which the French and Spanish authentic texts to the Chicago Convention were established and it is natural that that document be viewed as a precedent for the present Protocol. However, there is a significant difference with regard to the action on the Russian language text. ... In the case of the French and Spanish languages, provision for authentic texts was contained in the original 1944 Convention. [I]t was not until 1968 that the particular French and Spanish texts to be treated as authentic were finally agreed upon at a special diplomatic conference called for the purpose. . . . Given this 1968 precedent a Protocol is therefore appropriate for use in the case of the Russian text.

...

The essential distinction in the case of the Russian text is that it will not be authorized at all until the entry into force of the amendment of the Chicago Convention so providing

Dept. of State File L/T.

The text of the Protocol done on Sept. 30, 1977, relating to an amendment to the Convention to add Russian as an authentic language of the Convention reads in part as follows:

The Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization,

Having noted that it is the general desire of Contracting States to make a provision that the Convention aforesaid exist in authentic Russian text,

Having considered it necessary to amend, for the purpose aforesaid, the Convention on International Civil Aviation done at Chicago on the seventh day of December 1944,

1. Approves, in accordance with the provisions of Article 94 (a) of the Convention aforesaid, the following proposed amendment to the said Convention: replace the present text of the final paragraph of the Convention by: "Done at Chicago the seventh day of December 1944 in the English language. The texts of this Convention drawn up in the English, French, Russian and Spanish languages are of equal authenticity. These texts shall be deposited in the archives of the Government of the United States of America, and cer