British Letters Patent of 1908 and 1917 constituting the Falkland Islands Dependencies The following are the texts of the two Letters Patent denning the boundaries of the Falkland Islands Dependencies. They are reprinted here in view of the current political interest in this area. Some confusion has arisen owing to misrepresentation of the wording of these documents. The Letters Patent of 1908 made provision for the government of certain specified land areas lying between specified latitudes and longitudes. No claim was made to jurisdiction over the High Seas within these boundaries; still less was any claim made to that part of South America which lies to the south of latitude 50° S. The Letters Patent of 1917 denned the area more precisely in order to avoid this ambiguity. All subsequent British legislation for the administration of these Dependencies is based on the authority of these two documents.