In presenting this paper I shall take but a brief look at a rather interesting subject, the impact of which, on our business in aviation, has doubtlessly touched each and everyone of us. I refer to the subject of Cabotage—an old term which like so many others in human affairs has taken on a new meaning in a world shrunken by our own specialised activity of aviation.

Cabotage in its original maritime usage referred to carriage between two places within a geographical unit by earthbound vehicles. The essence of this cabotage however, was its parochial as opposed to international application and this was based on the recognised right of a State to reserve such carriage to its own ships. This restrictive nature of cabotage in maritime law is an exception to the general rule of the freedom of the seas.