50 U.S.C. § 210 — Penalties for unauthorized trading, etc.; jurisdiction of prosecutions

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in plain englishAI-generated · not legal advice

This Civil War-era law makes illegal trading with rebel states a crime. It bans moving, selling, or handling goods there without a presidential license, lying to get one, or breaking a license's terms. It also covers embezzlement and false accounting. Violators face a fine up to $5,000 and up to three years in prison, tried by any competent civil or military court.

This section punishes illegal trading with states that had declared themselves in insurrection during the Civil War. It applies to any federal officer — civil, military, or naval — and to any other person, including soldiers, sailors, and marines. A person breaks this law if they take goods into an insurrectionary state, or take goods to a point from which they will later be carried into such a state. It's also illegal to transport, sell, or otherwise dispose of goods there, unless the President has licensed and authorized it under this chapter. Lying to get that license — making a false statement to obtain it — is also a crime. Even with a valid license, it's illegal to willfully and knowingly transport, sell, or dispose of goods beyond what the license actually covers, or to do so in violation of the license's terms or of rules set by the Secretary of the Treasury. Separately, the law punishes embezzlement, willful misappropriation of public or private money or property, keeping false accounts, or willfully filing false returns. Anyone found guilty of any of these acts is guilty of a misdemeanor. The punishment is a fine of not more than $5,000 and imprisonment in the penitentiary for not more than three years. Cases under this section can be tried in any court, civil or military, that has authority to hear such cases.

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

Every officer of the United States, civil, military, or naval, and every sutler, soldier, marine, or other person, who takes, or causes to be taken into a State declared to be in insurrection, or to any other point to be thence taken into such State, or who transports or sells, or otherwise disposes of therein, any goods, wares, or merchandise whatsoever, except in pursuance of license and authority of the President, as provided in this chapter, or who makes any false statement or representation upon which license and authority is granted for such transportation, sale, or other disposition, or who, under any license or authority obtained, willfully and knowingly transports, sells, or otherwise disposes of any other goods, wares, or merchandise than such as are in good faith so licensed and authorized, or who willfully and knowingly transports, sells, or disposes of the same, or any portion thereof, in violation of the terms of such license or authority, or of any rule or regulation prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury concerning the same, or who is guilty of any act of embezzlement, of willful misappropriation of public or private money or property, of keeping false accounts, or of willfully making any false returns, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be fined not more than $5,000, and imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than three years. Violations of this section shall be cognizable before any court, civil or military, competent to try the same.

Source credit: (R.S. § 5306.)

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