Sea

The ocean; the great mass of water which surrounds the land, and which extends from pole to pole, covering nearly three-quarters of the globe. Waters within the ebb and flow of the tide are to be considered the sea.

Gilp. Dist. Ct. 526.

A large body of salt water communicating with the ocean is also called a sea; as, the Mediterranean sea, etc. Very large inland bodies of salt water are also called seas; as, the Caspian sea, etc. The open sea is public and common property, and any nation or person has ordinarily an equal right to navigate it or to fish therein (1 Kent, Comm. 27; Angell, Tide Waters, 44-49; 1 Bouv. Inst. 170, 174), and to land upon the seashore (1 Bouv. Inst. 173, 174); but it is generally conceded that every nation has jurisdiction to the distance of a cannon shot, or marine league, over the waters adjacent to its shore (2 Cranch [U. S.] 187, 234; Bynkershoek, Qu. Pub. Jur. 61; Vattel, 207).