33 U.S.C. § 412 — Liability of masters, pilots, etc., and of vessels engaged in violations
submitted 127 years ago by ch. 425 to r/title-33-NAVIGATION-AND-NAVIGABLE-WATERS · 282 words · no verdicts yet
This law punishes ship crews and vessels that break certain harbor rules. A master, pilot, or engineer who breaks these rules on purpose can be convicted and lose their license. The vessel involved can also be fined and sued for damages in federal court.
This section makes crew members and vessels personally liable for certain violations tied to sections 407, 408, and 409 of this title.
Any master, pilot, or engineer of a boat or vessel — or anyone acting in that role — who knowingly tows a scow, boat, or vessel loaded with material described in section 407 to a dumping spot outside the limits the Secretary of the Army has set, is guilty of violating this Act. The same is true for anyone who willfully damages or destroys a federal work covered by section 408, or who willfully blocks a waterway's channel in the way section 409 describes. On conviction, the penalty is whatever section 411 of this title provides, and the judge who tries the case can also revoke or suspend that person's operating license for whatever term the judge sets.
Any boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft used to violate sections 407, 408, 409, 414, or 415 of this title is itself liable for the fines set out in section 411 of this title, plus the dollar amount of any damage it caused. That damage money goes into the appropriation for improving the harbor or waterway where the damage happened. The vessel can be pursued directly — through a summary court proceeding called a libel — in any federal district court that has jurisdiction over it.
Any and every master, pilot, and engineer, or person or persons acting in such capacity, respectively, on board of any boat or vessel who shall knowingly engage in towing any scow, boat, or vessel loaded with any material specified in section 407 of this title to any point or place of deposit or discharge in any harbor or navigable water, elsewhere than within the limits defined and permitted by the Secretary of the Army, or who shall willfully injure or destroy any work of the United States contemplated in section 408 of this title, or who shall willfully obstruct the channel of any waterway in the manner contemplated in section 409 of this title, shall be deemed guilty of a violation of this Act, and shall upon conviction be punished as provided in section 411 of this title, and shall also have his license revoked or suspended for a term to be fixed by the judge before whom tried and convicted. And any boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft used or employed in violating any of the provisions of sections 407, 408, 409, 414, and 415 of this title shall be liable for the pecuniary penalties specified in section 411 of this title, and in addition thereto for the amount of the damages done by said boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft, which latter sum shall be placed to the credit of the appropriation for the improvement of the harbor or waterway in which the damage occurred, and said boat, vessel, scow, raft, or other craft may be proceeded against summarily by way of libel in any district court of the United States having jurisdiction thereof.
Source credit: (Mar. 3, 1899, ch. 425, § 16, 30 Stat. 1153; July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, § 205(a), 61 Stat. 501; Pub. L. 104–303, title II, § 218(a)(1), Oct. 12, 1996, 110 Stat. 3696.)
- 1899Enacted · Act of Mar. 3, 1899, ch. 425 · 30 Stat. 1153
- 1947Amended · Act of July 26, 1947, ch. 343 · 61 Stat. 501
- 1996Amended · Pub. L. 104-303 · 110 Stat. 3696
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by ch. 425 on 1899-03-03.
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