16 U.S.C. § 403c–1 — Respective jurisdiction of Virginia and United States over lands in Shenandoah Park

submitted 89 years ago by ch. 703 to r/title-16-CONSERVATION · 720 words · no verdicts yet

in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This law splits legal authority over Shenandoah National Park between Virginia and the United States. The U.S. handles crimes and general policing; Virginia keeps some tax and civil-court powers. People living in the park can still vote in their Virginia county or city.

To create uniform federal jurisdiction over all the land in the Shenandoah National Park, this law accepts a 1940 Virginia law that fixed the respective powers of Virginia and the United States and gave the United States exclusive police jurisdiction over the park; the United States takes on that exclusive jurisdiction. Starting June 5, 1942, jurisdiction over all park land, now or later included in the park, works as follows: (a) The United States has exclusive jurisdiction — lawmaking, enforcement, and judicial — over crimes committed in the park, including the arrest, trial, and punishment of offenders, and exclusive general police jurisdiction over the park. (b) The United States can regulate or prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on park land. But if Virginia law generally bans alcohol sales outside the park, no alcohol can be sold inside the park either. If Virginia law allows alcohol sales, the United States' rules for sales in the park must match Virginia's rules as closely as possible. Virginia cannot require separate liquor licenses for sellers in the park, and cannot require park sales to go through official state liquor stores. (c) Virginia can serve civil legal papers inside the park for lawsuits properly filed in Virginia courts, and can serve criminal legal papers inside the park for crimes committed in Virginia but outside the park. (d) Virginia can charge a nondiscriminatory tax on alcoholic beverages possessed or sold on park land. (e) Virginia can tax sales of oil, gasoline, and other motor-vehicle fuels and lubricants used in motor vehicles — though this does not mean the United States consents to Virginia taxing fuel sold for the federal government's own exclusive use. (f) Virginia can charge nondiscriminatory taxes on private individuals, associations, and corporations — and on their property, franchises, and businesses — located or operating on park land. (g) Virginia courts share jurisdiction with federal courts over civil lawsuits arising on park land, to the same extent as if those lawsuits had arisen in the surrounding Virginia county or city; Virginia officials can enforce Virginia court judgments and collect taxes in the park through the usual legal process. (h) People living on land in the Shenandoah National Park can establish Virginia voting residence there and can vote in elections in the county or city where their land is located, the same as if the land had never been transferred to the United States. Fugitives from justice who take refuge in the park are subject to the same laws as fugitives found anywhere else in Virginia.

the actual law source: uscode.house.gov ↗public domain

In order to provide for uniform Federal jurisdiction over all of the lands now or hereafter embraced within the Shenandoah National Park, the provisions of the Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia, approved April 1, 1940 (Acts of 1940, ch. 402, p. 725), fixing and defining the respective jurisdiction and powers of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States and ceding to the United States exclusive police jurisdiction over all lands now or hereafter included within the park are accepted and such exclusive jurisdiction is assumed by the United States over such lands. From June 5, 1942, the respective jurisdiction and powers of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the United States over all lands within the Shenandoah National Park as it is now constituted or may hereafter be extended shall be as follows:

(a)

The United States shall have exclusive jurisdiction, legislative, executive, and judicial, with respect to the commission of crimes, and the arrest, trial, and punishment therefor, and exclusive general police jurisdiction thereover.

(b)

The United States shall have the power to regulate or prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages on said lands: Provided, however, That, if the sale of alcoholic beverages is prohibited by general law in the Commonwealth of Virginia outside of said lands, no such alcoholic beverages shall be sold on said lands contained in said park area: And provided further, That, if the general laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia permit the sale of alcoholic beverages, then the regulations of the United States relating to such sales on said lands shall conform as nearly as possible to the regulatory provisions in accordance with which such sales are permitted in the Commonwealth of Virginia outside of said park lands. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as reserving in the Commonwealth power to require licenses of persons engaged in the sale of intoxicating beverages on said lands, nor the power to require that any sales be made through official liquor stores.

(c)

The Commonwealth of Virginia shall have jurisdiction to serve civil process within the limits of said park in any suits properly instituted in any of the courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and to serve criminal process within said limits in any suits or prosecutions for or on account of crimes committed in said Commonwealth but outside of said park.

(d)

The Commonwealth of Virginia shall have the jurisdiction and power to levy a nondiscriminatory tax on all alcoholic beverages possessed or sold on said lands.

(e)

The Commonwealth of Virginia shall have jurisdiction and power to tax the sales of oil and gasoline, and other motor-vehicle fuels and lubricants for use in motor vehicles. This subsection shall not be construed as a consent by the United States to the taxation by the Commonwealth of such sales for the exclusive use of the United States.

(f)

The Commonwealth of Virginia shall have the jurisdiction and power to levy nondiscriminatory taxes on private individuals, associations, and corporations, their franchises and properties, on said lands, and on their businesses conducted thereon.

(g)

The courts of the Commonwealth of Virginia shall have concurrent jurisdiction with the courts of the United States of all civil causes of action arising on said lands to the same extent as if the cause of action had arisen in the county or city in which the land lies outside the park area, and the State officers shall have jurisdiction to enforce on said lands the judgments of said State courts and the collection of taxes by appropriate process.

(h)

Persons residing in or on any of the said lands embraced in said Shenandoah National Park shall have the right to establish a voting residence in Virginia by reason thereof, and the consequent right to vote at all elections within the county or city in which said land or lands upon which they reside are located upon like terms and conditions, and to the same extent, as they would be entitled to vote in such county or city if the said lands on which they reside had not been deeded or conveyed to the United States of America. All fugitives from justice taking refuge in the park shall be subject to the same laws as refugees from justice found in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Source credit: (Aug. 19, 1937, ch. 703, § 1, 50 Stat. 700; June 5, 1942, ch. 343, 56 Stat. 321.)

history & why it existsrecord from the source credit

1937Enacted · Act of Aug. 19, 1937, ch. 703 · 50 Stat. 700
1942Amended · Act of June 5, 1942, ch. 343 · 56 Stat. 321

A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 703 on 1937-08-19.

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