Fletcher, Bonduc a

2. His hair powdered with marechal, a cambric shirt, etc. Smollett, Roderick Random. mare clausum (mā'rē kla's um). [L.: mare, sea; clausum, neut. of clausus, closed: see merel and close2, a.] A closed sea; a sea closed to navigation; a sea or a part of the high seas within the jurisdiction of a particular nation, as distinguished from the open sea, where all nations have equal right. The phrase is not a geographical one, but a technical legal term, the subject of which has always been in controversy in international law; and its meaning therefore varies in extent according as it is used by those who claim or who resist an extension of territorial jurisdiction over otherwise open seas.