united-kingdom international european-union legal-history treaty
Belgium&#39;s historical Charter for indefinite access to UK waters
<p>In 1666 King Charles II issued the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheries_Privilege_(1666)" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fisheries Privilege Charter</a> granting 50 fishermen from the city of Bruges ‘eternal access’ to British waters, and the EU are now trying to 'grandfather' this treaty. Is this treaty valid under all possible circumstances, or is it possible to claim that this is no longer appropriate to present day circumstances? And moreover, is it possible for the entire EU to inherit the treaty in the first place without any questions being asked, given that the EU is not the 'Enlarged Country of Belgium (or any other member state)'.</p>
<p>This is a somewhat analagous situation to a new-build Housing Estate in a rural area. While planning permission may have been granted for the houses, the land itself is subject to an ancient historical 'Covenant' which was drawn up hundreds of years before work started on the Housing site. Theoretically speaking the Covenant applies for all time, but it is possible to make an application to 'discharge' the Covenant on the grounds that it is no longer appropriate to the present day use of the land, even if it can be very expensive to do so in practise.</p>
<p>Is it possible to pursue an analagous process for the seas?</p>

<p>It is unlikly that a treaty (grant/charter) that was <strong>never in force</strong> would be used as a claim in a negotiation.</p>
<p>A treaty, just as a contract, cannot be simply be changed by one party.<br />
So an 'expansion' from '<em>50 boats from Bruges</em>'  to '<em>all the boats of Belgium (or the EU)</em>'  would not be done by an <em>experienced</em> negotiation team.</p>
<p>Based on the little that is known of this matter:</p>
<ul>
<li>both parties probably didn't know of its existence until the October 2020 reports</li>
</ul>
<hr />
<p><strong>Sources</strong>: (links from richardb)</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fisheries_Privilege_(1666)#21st_century" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Fisheries Privilege (1666), 21 Century</a>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://twnews.co.uk/uk-news/belgium-may-invoke-1666-charter-to-catch-fish-in-uk-waters-if-brexit-negotiations-fail" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Belgium may invoke 1666 charter to catch fish in UK waters if Brexit negotiations fail</a></li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>

<p>It turns out that Denmark also have a similar medieval fishing charter to Belgium. So that raises the question as to whether it is Belgium's Charter or Denmark's Charter that would apply to the EU as a whole. Or both Charters could only apply to the member states <em>individually</em>; the EU cannot 'grandfather' these charters seperately.</p>
<p>The only way that the entire EU could possibly inherit those rights is i) The EU is a <strong>federal sovereign country</strong>, which it currently is not (this is a comparable situation to the now unified Germany inheriting a resource of the then-East Germany), <strong>AND</strong> ii) If <strong>every</strong> EU member that was party to UK fishing waters all had their own historical fishing charters regarding UK seas, had formally pooled those charters into a unified whole. But those entire EU rights to access UK waters can collapase if just <em>one</em> of those member states party to UK seas do not have a historical charter, as in this case we are back to individual charters.</p>
