Glossary of Terminology

In this BULLETIN certain terms and descriptive items have been utilized in discussing various of the areas in the Caribbean and Pacific which are under or associated with U.S. sovereignty. For reference purposes and clarification the most pertinent of these terms are explained below. TERRITORY

(a) As a common noun territory may be used to describe any area over which the United States exercises sovereignty. It is a generic term, comprehending incorporated territories, unincorporated territories, and areas at times referred to as dependent areas or possessions.

(b) As a proper noun Territory refers to those areas to which the Constitution has been expressly extended by the United States Congress and in which it is ap plicable as fully as in the States in the Union. A short-hand reference for the term incorporated territory.

(c) Incorporated territory refers to an area which the Congress has "incorporated" into the United States by making the Constitution applicable to it.

(d) Unincorporated territory is any territory to which the Constitution has not been expressly and fully extended. The short-hand reference for the term is possession, but the lower-case territory can also be correctly used to refer to an unincorporated territory. COMMONWEALTH

Applies only to Puerto Rico under its present Constitution, proclaimed on July 25, 1952, pursuant to the Joint Resolution of Congress of July 3, 1952 (66 Stat. 327; 48 U.S.C., section 731d). TRUST TERRITORY

Applies only to the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands which the United States administers under

(a) Guano Act: An Act of Congress of August 18, 1856, published in Volume 11, United States Statutes at Large, page 119; and sections 5570 and 5578 of the Revised Statutes. The text of the act in its present form may be found in the U.S. Code, Title 18, section 7(4), and Title 48, sections 1411-1419.

(b) Organic Act: (According to Black's Law Dictionary) "An Act of Congress conferring powers of government upon a territory." The United States Supreme Court in the case of In Re Lane, 1890 (125 U.S. 443) used the term in reference to the organized governments of Territories.

PHYSICAL FEATURES

(a) An island is a naturally formed area of land surrounded by water, which is above water at high tide. Areas of land above water at low tide but covered at high tide are collectively classed as low-tide elevations (drying rocks, reefs, shoals). They have sovereignty only when within territorial waters. (See Geographic Bulletin No. 3, Sovereignty of the Sea, for detailed discussion.)

(b) A bank is an elevation, or rising ground, under the surface of the sea. May be called a shoal, shelf, or shallow. Islands may project above the surface in a bank area.

(c) A cay is a key or an isle, normally a feature associated with shallow water in Spanish-speaking areas.