NEW HAMPSHIRE v. MAINE
No. 64, Orig.
Supreme Court of the United States
June 14, 1976
426 U.S. 363
Richard F. Upton argued the cause for plaintiff on exceptions to the Report of the Special Master. With him on the briefs were Warren B. Rudman, Attorney General of New Hampshire, and David H. Souter, Deputy Attorney Generаl.
Edward F. Bradley, Jr., Assistant Attorney General of Maine, argued the cause for defendant on exceptions to the Report. With him on the briefs were Joseph E. Brennan, Attorney General, and Donald G. Alexander and Robert J. Stolt, Assistant Attorneys General.*
MR. JUSTICE BRENNAN delivered the opinion of the Court.
Both New Hampshire and Maine have filed exceptions to the Report of the Special Master in this original action brought by New Hampshire against Maine, 414 U. S. 810, 996 (1973), to locate the lateral marine boundary separating the States between the mouth of Portsmouth Harbor and the entrance to Gosport Harbor in the Isles of Shoals.1 Prior to trial the At-
The Special Master “concluded that the proposed consent decree should be submitted to the Court for its consideration,” Report of Special Master 3, but expressed the view that rejection of the decree must be recommended as not permissible under the principle of Vermont v. New York, 417 U. S. 270, 277 (1974), that “mere settlements by the parties acting under compulsions and motives that have no relation to performance of [the Court‘s] Art. III functions” do not relieve the Court of its constitutional duty to decide the merits of the controversy between the States. However, the Special Master recommended entry of the consеnt decree if its entry would be consistent with performance of the Court‘s Art. III function.3 We hold that entry of the
The boundary in dispute was in fact fixed in 1740 by decree of King George II of England. That decree set the boundary as follows:
“That the Dividing Line shall pass up thro the Mouth of Piscataqua Harbour and up the Middle of the River . . . . And that the Dividing Line shall part the Isles of Shoals and run thro the Middle of the Harbour between the Islands to the Sеa on the Southerly Side. . . .”
The historical events that produced this 1740 decree, summarized briefly here, are detailed in the Special Master‘s Report. In the early 18th century, a major boundary dispute arose between the provinces of New Hampshire and Massachusetts regarding the southern border of New Hampshire. The legal issues focused on the Merrimack River, but the boundary between New Hampshire and the Maine portion of Massachusetts was also involved. When representatives of the two provinces were unable in 1731 to reach agreement, the New Hampshire representatives presented the matter to King George II. The King referred the dispute to the Board of Trade, which in 1735 recommended that commissioners from the other New England Colonies be designated to resolve the question. In 1737 the King ac-
The States expressly agree with the conclusion of the Special Master that “the decree of 1740 fixed the boundary in the Piscataqua Harbоr area.” Their quarrel was over the location by the decree of the “Mouth of Piscataqua River,” “Middle of the River,” and “Middle of the Harbour” within the contemplation of the decree. The proposed consent decree embodies the States’ agreement upon the meaning of those terms, and we hold that the Court may give effect to the States’ agreement consistently with performance of our Art. III function and duty.
The Special Master found that a “case or controversy” existed when this original action was filed, but that the effect of the compromise represented by the joint motion for entry of the consent decreе was that “[a]t this point in time . . . the moving papers do not propose a case or
The proposed consent decree in Vermont provided that “no findings shall be made” and that “it shall not constitute an adjudication on any issue of fact or law, or evidence, or any admission by any party with respect to any such issue.” 417 U. S., at 271. The decree also provided for appointment by the Court of a Special Master authorized to consider all future disputes, after exhaustion of administrative and other remedies, and to file recommendations with the Court; these recommendations were to become decisions of the Court unless disapproved. Obviously this proposal “would materially change the function of the Court in these interstate contests.” Id., at 277. If we were tо agree to police prospectively the conduct of the parties, “we would be acting more in an arbitral rather than a judicial manner.” Ibid.
In contrast, the 1740 decree, not the proposed consent decree, permanently fixed the boundary between the States; the proposed consent deсree does nothing except record the States’ agreement upon the location of the “Mouth of Piscataqua River,” “Middle of the River,” and “Middle of the Harbour” within the contemplation of the 1740 decree. The consent decree expressly states that it “determines the lateral marine boundary line between New Hampshire and Maine from the inner Portsmouth Harbor to the breakwater at the end of the inner Gosport Harbor in the Isles of Shoals.”
The consent decree therefore proposes a wholly permissible final resolution of the controversy both as to
New Hampshire suggests, however, that acceptance of the consent decree without an independеnt determination by the Court as to the validity of the legal principles on which it is based would be a circumvention of the Compact Clause,
The application of the Compact Clause is limited to agreements that are “directed to the formation of any combination tending to the increase of political power in the States, which may encroach upon or interfere with the just supremacy of the United States.” Virginia v. Tennessee, 148 U. S. 503, 519 (1893). Whether a particular agreement respecting boundaries is within the Clause will depend on whether “the establishment of the boundary line may lead or not to the increase of the political power or influence of the States affected,
The proposed consent decree plainly falls without the Compact Clause under this test. New Hampshire and Maine are not here adjusting the boundary between them; the boundary was fixed over two centuries ago by the 1740 decree, and the consent decree is directed simply to locating precisely this already existing boundаry. Accordingly, neither State can be viewed as enhancing its power in any sense that threatens the supremacy of the Federal Government. The boundary defined by the proposed decree “takes effect, not as an alienation of territory, but as a definition of the true and ancient boundary.” Virginia v. Tennessee, supra, at 522. See North Carolina v. Tennessee, 235 U. S. 1, 15-16 (1914).
The proposed consent decree will be entered.
So ordered.
MR. JUSTICE WHITE, with whom MR. JUSTICE BLACKMUN and MR. JUSTICE STEVENS join, dissenting.
I find unaсceptable the Court‘s cursory conclusion that the Special Master and we ourselves are bound to accept the agreement of the parties as to the meaning of the words “middle of the river” and related phrases which were used in the 1740 document to describe the Maine-New Hampshire boundaries, as wеll as their agreement as to where that line lies on the face of the earth.
The parties interpret “middle of the river” as meaning the thalweg, which they understand to be the middle of the main channel of navigation. The States then fashioned their mutually agreed boundary in the river and the harbor on this basis, their boundary in the ocean bеing a straight line between the points at which the main navigation channels cross the closing lines of
The Court‘s holding seems to be that whatever the parties might agree to with respect to the import of the 1740 language, the Special Master and the courts must give their imprimatur. As I understand the Court, the stipulation would have been just as acceptable and just as binding upon us if the parties had agreed that the middle of the river was intended to mean the geographical center of the stream.
I agree with the contrary view of the Special Master that the middle-of-the-river language should be determined in accordаnce with legal principles, not by agreements of convenience. The Special Master concluded that when the language involved was employed in 1740 the geographic middle rather than the thalweg or main channel of the river was intended. The Court does not hold the Special Master to be wrong in this regard, and it wоuld be difficult to believe that the “middle of the river” should be determined by what the main channel of navigation might turn out to be in the 1970‘s.
The parties agree that the geographic middle and the main channel of navigation are totally different concepts.
Furthermore, whether the middle of the river is to mean the thalwеg or a line equidistant from the shores, the boundary should be laid out in accordance with the legal import of these concepts. This does not seem to be the case with respect to the stipulated boundary in the Piscataqua River and Portsmouth Harbor; for the agreed boundary proceeds on absolutely straight lines, аnd it is incredible that a line following the main or deepest channel would proceed on such an invariable course. What the parties have actually done is to agree upon a line which they assert represents the course most usually followed by those navigating the harbor and the river. This is not at all the same thing as a boundary following the thalweg.
I would not think that without the consent of Congress two States could agree to locate the boundary between them on either shore of the river separating them if the controlling document describes their boundary as the middle of the river; nor, if the document made it plain that the main channel in the river was their boundary line, would they be free to stipulate that the boundary should be the geographic center of the stream nor should a court approve any such stipulation. Rather it should determine and lay out the line in accordance with accepted legal principles and enter a decree accordingly. This is what the Special Master recommended that we do, and his Report should be accepted and a decree entered in accordance therewith.