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47 U.S.C. § 21 — Submarine cables; willful injury to; punishment

submitted 138 years ago by ch. 17 to r/title-47-TELECOMMUNICATIONS · 99 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law makes it a crime to deliberately damage a submarine telegraph cable, or to help someone else do it. It also punishes attempts. A guilty person faces up to two years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both.

This law punishes anyone who deliberately breaks or damages a submarine cable, or tries to. It also punishes anyone who helps, counsels, or assists someone else in doing this — the law calls this being an accessory. The damage has to interrupt or interfere with telegraphic communication, even just partly, for this law to apply. Breaking the cable by accident doesn't count here — the person has to act "willfully and wrongfully," meaning on purpose and without a lawful excuse. Anyone found guilty is committing a misdemeanor, a less serious crime than a felony. A court can punish the person with prison for up to two years, a fine of up to $5,000, or both. The court decides which punishment, or combination, fits the case.
the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

Any person who shall willfully and wrongfully break or injure, or attempt to break or injure, or who shall in any manner procure, counsel, aid, abet, or be accessory to such breaking or injury, or attempt to break or injure, a submarine cable in such manner as to interrupt or embarrass, in whole or in part, telegraphic communication, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on conviction thereof, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to a fine not exceeding $5,000, or to both fine and imprisonment, at the discretion of the court.

Source credit: (Feb. 29, 1888, ch. 17, § 1, 25 Stat. 41.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit
  • 1888Enacted · Act of Feb. 29, 1888, ch. 17 · 25 Stat. 41

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 17 on 1888-02-29.

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