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Title 12 — Banks and Banking

Chapter 3 — Federal Reserve System

§ 331. Certifying checks on State banks admitted as members

Statutory text

It shall be unlawful for any officer, clerk, or agent of any bank admitted to membership under authority of this subchapter, to certify any check drawn upon such bank unless the person or company drawing the check has on deposit therewith at the time such check is certified an amount of money equal to the amount specified in such check. Any check so certified by duly authorized officers shall be a good and valid obligation against such bank, but the act of any such officer, clerk, or agent in violation of this subchapter, may subject such bank to a forfeiture of its membership in the Federal reserve system upon hearing by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Legislative history

Reconstructed from this section’s Code source credit and amendment notes, resolved against the local Statutes at Large. Editorial notes are evidence, not the law that made the change.

  1. Pub. L. 65–6 § 9 · 40 Stat. 38

    Enacted · 12 U.S.C. § 331

    Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, § 9 (par.), as added June 21, 1917, ch. 32, § 3, 40 Stat. 234

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, § 9 (par.), as added June 21, 1917, ch. 32, § 3, 40 Stat. 234

0 of 1 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Editorial Notes

References in Text

This subchapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this section”, meaning section 9 of act , which is classified generally to this subchapter (§ 321 et seq.).

Codification

Section is comprised of the fourteenth par. of section 9 of act , as amended. The fourteenth par. constituted the eleventh par. of section 9 in 1917 (40 Stat. 232), became the twelfth par. in 1927 (44 Stat. 1229), became the thirteenth par. in 1935 (49 Stat. 704), and became the fourteenth par. in 1950 (64 Stat. 458). For further details, see Codification notes set out under sections 321 and 329a of this title.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Section 203(a) of act , changed name of Federal Reserve Board to Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Credits

1913–1935 · 2 acts
  1. 1913Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, § 9 (par.), as added June 21, 1917, ch. 32, § 3, 40 Stat. 234
  2. 1935amended Aug. 23, 1935, ch. 614, title II, § 203(a), 49 Stat. 704.
Show as published

(Dec. 23, 1913, ch. 6, § 9 (par.), as added June 21, 1917, ch. 32, § 3, 40 Stat. 234; amended Aug. 23, 1935, ch. 614, title II, § 203(a), 49 Stat. 704.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc12.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-07-23

USLM identifier /us/usc/t12/s331