Legal Term: HIGH SEAS

Definition: This term, which is frequently used in the laws of the United States signifies the unenclosed waters of the ocean, and also those waters on the sea coast which are without the boundaries of low water mark. 1 Gall. R. 624; 5 Masons R. 290; 1 Bl. Com. 110; 2 Haze. Adm. R. 398; Dunl. Adm. Pr. 32, 33.

2. The Act of Congress of April 30 1790, s. 8, 1 StoryS L. U. S. 84, enacts, that if any person shall commit upon the high seas, or in any river, haven, basin, or bay, out of the jurisdiction of any particular state, murder, &c., which, if committed within the body of a county, would, by the laws of the United States, be punishable with death, every such offender, being thereof convicted, shall suffer death and the trial of crimes committed on the high seas, or in any place out of the jurisdiction of any particular state, shall be in the district where the offender is apprehended, or into which he may first be brought. See 4 Dall. R. 426; 3 Wheat. R. 336; 5 Wheat 184, 412; 3 W. C. C. R. 515; Serg. Const. Law, 334; 13 Am. Jur. 279 1 Mason, 147, 152; 1 Gallis. 624.

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