HIGH SEAS, the open seas or those parts of the sea not under the dominion of any State. Claims have at times been made to exclusive dominion over large areas of the sea as well as over wide margins, such as mom., 6om., range of vision, etc., from land. The general interests of navigation, however, have brought States to adopt a limitation first enunciated by Bynkershoek in the form ula "terrae dominium finitur ubi finitur armorum vis." Thence forward cannon-shot range or three marine miles determined the limits of marginal waters known as "territorial waters." With the exception of these marginal waters, inland waters, gulfs, arms of the sea of certain dimensions or waters allowed by immemorial usage to rank as territorial, all waters form part of the high sea. The use of the high sea is free to all the nations of the world, subject only to such restrictions as result from respect for the equal rights of others, and to those which nations may agree inter se to observe.