CANON,
eccl. law. This word is taken from the Greek, and signifies a rule or
law. In ecelesiastical law, it is also used to designate an order of
religious persons. Francis Duaren says, the reason why the ecclesiastics
called the rules they established canons or rules, (canones id est
regulas) and not laws, was modesty. They did not dare to call them
(leges) laws, lest they should seem to arrogate to themselves the
authority of princes and magistrates. De Sacris Ecclesiae Ministeriis,
p. 2, in pref. See Law, Canon.
CANNON SHOT,
war. The distance which a cannon will throw a ball. 2. The whole space
of the sea, within cannon shot of the coast, is considered as making a
part of the territory; and for that reason, a vessel taken under the
cannon of a neutral fortress, is not a lawful prize. Vatt. b. 1, c. 23,
s. 289, in finem Chitt. Law of Nat. 113; Mart. Law of Nat. b. 8, c. 6,
s. 6; 3 Rob. Adm. Rep. 102, 336; 5 Id. 373; 3 Hagg. Adm. R. 257. This
part of the sea being considered as part of the adjacent territory, (q.
v.) it follows that magistrates can cause the orders of their
governments to be executed there. Three miles is considered as the
greatest distance that the force of gunpowder can carry a bomb or a
ball. Azun. far. Law, part 2, c. 2, art. 2, 15; Bouch. Inst. n. 1848.
The anonymous author of the poem, Della Natura, lib. 5, expresses this
idea in the following lines: Tanto slavanza in mar questo dominio, Quant
esser puo d'antemurale e guardia, Fin dove puo da terra in mar
vibrandosi Correr di cavo bronzo acceso fulinine. Far as the sovereign
can defend his sway, Extends his empire o'er the watery way; The shot
sent thundering to the liquid plain, Assigns the limits of his just
domain. Vide League.
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