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PaperclipPerfector  10mo ago (text post)   31416 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of July 24, 2023

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The Treaty says that local authorities cannot construct things that are banned by article 3 of the Treaty of 1884, but that says that you can't make jetties, piers, or constructions that deflect the current. Buoys are not covered by this in the plain reading. Is there another clause that you were referring to?

Article VII of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) forbids some things on "The river Gila and the part of the Rio Bravo del Norte lying below the southern boundary of New Mexico." This might cover it.

the navigation of the Gila and the Bravo below said boundary shall be free and common to the vessels and citizens of both countries; and neither shall, without the consent of the other, construct any work that may impede or interrupt, in whole or in part, the exercise of this right; not even for the purpose of favoring new methods of navigation.

I think the question here is what a "work" means? Normally floating buoys would not count but I think an argument could be made that convinced me that this was impeding vessels.

I agree that their purpose is to block people. It does seem strange that there is a treaty that says you can't try to impede people crossing the border. I wonder if navigable normally refers to crossing a river rather than traveling down it lengthways.

Here is the legal US definition of navigable waterway: https://www.ecfr.gov/current/title-33/chapter-II/part-329

The US definition of navigable may not be that relevant as this is a treaty, not a US law. I don't know anything about how terms in treaties are interpreted, but I imagine that the treatment must be symmetric, so if US law matters, then so must Mexican law.

I also don't know enough to tell if the Rio Grande is navigable. Allegedly it is "too thick to drink and too thin to plow."

Treaties are US law, assuming they're ratified by 2/3 of both houses of congress.

My understanding is that it was considered "navigable" under the legal definition, but farther upstream (heh) in the comments someone said that ACOE doesn't consider it navigable, so now I'm lost.

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