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 1 74 Foreign Commerce. [Ch. X. Sec. L to the soil under the seas, and to marttima incremental will be hereafter considered (a). A Port is defined by Lord Hale (b) to be quid aggregaium^ consisting of something that is natural, viz. an access of the sea, whereby ships may conveniently come safe, a situation against winds, where they niay safely lie, and a good shore, where they may well unlade ; something that is artificial, as quays and wharfs, and cranes and warehouses, and houses of common receipt ; and something that is civil, namely, privileges and franchises, viz. jus applicandi^ jus mercati^ and divers other additaments, given to it by civil authority." It is indis- putably established, that the right to erect ports and havens is in general vested exclusively in the Crown (c); and this rule prevails so strictly, that even the lord of a county palatine, though he usually had ports by charter or prescription, cannot erect a common port within his palatine jurisdiction {d) and the exceptions to this rule, viz. that a subject may, by charter from the King, or prescription, erect a port (e), seem strongly to prove it. The King has not merely the prerogative power of erecting ports and havens, but he possesses 'prima facie the propriety or ownership in all the ports and havens within his dominions, though the public have a right to use them {f) ; and even though the right to a port or haven be vested by charter or prescription in a subject, yet he holds it charged or affected with the jus regium or royal prerogative, as it relates to ports and havens (g). The royal right of superintending ports and havens, is a necessary consequence of the prerogative ownership in them {h). Hence the King is entrusted with the care of preventing and reforming public nuisances in ports and havens ; the prosecutions for them are in his name, and the fines for the defects or annoyances in them, form part of his revenue (?). But this superintending power does not in gene- ral extend so far as to enable the King to open and shut ports and havens for the purpose of prohibiting the importation or 8 Term R. 606. (fl) Post, ch. 11. (/) Ibid. ch.6. 8 T (It) De portibus Maris, ch. 2. (g) Ibid. Hale, ch. 8. (c) Ibid. ch. 3. (A) Ibid. ch. 6. (d) Ibid. (?) Ibid. ch. 8. Anstr. 603. {e) Ibid. exportation