The Free State and the Treaty In the dispute between
the Free State and Northern Ireland, over the fishing in Lough Foyle, the Free State relies upon a strange reading of the Treaty of 1921. The Treaty defines the Free State as " all Ireland," though the six counties of Northern Ireland were given the right to contract out. Ordinary people would suppose that the six counties, having exercised that right, acquired full jurisdiction over their territorial waters, but the Free State argues that this was not so, as the Treaty did not mention the waters ! There has been nothing like this, we think, since Portia pointed out that the pound of flesh did not include blood. We must hope that this curious Constitutional point will not give any trouble. According to the Morning Post it does not stand alone. Lord Danesfort in a letter to that paper on Wednesday, pointed out that though the Performing Rights Society has obtained leave to appeal from the decision of the Free State Courts to the Judicial Com- mittee of the Privy Council, the Free State Government has passed legislation which would nullify any decision of the Judicial Committee in favour of the Society. Yet the right of appeal to the Judicial Committee is provided for in the Treaty.
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