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Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Part I · Chapter 47 — Fraud and False Statements

§ 1017. Government seals wrongfully used and instruments wrongfully sealed

Statutory text

Whoever fraudulently or wrongfully affixes or impresses the seal of any department or agency of the United States, to or upon any certificate, instrument, commission, document, or paper or with knowledge of its fraudulent character, with wrongful or fraudulent intent, uses, buys, procures, sells, or transfers to another any such certificate, instrument, commission, document, or paper, to which or upon which said seal has been so fraudulently affixed or impressed, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

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. 80–645 · 62 Stat. 683

    Enacted · 18 U.S.C. § 1017

    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 753

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 753

  2. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

    Pub. L. 103–322 title XXXIII § 330016(1)(K) · 108 Stat. 1796

    Substituted · 18 U.S.C. § 1017

    Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”

    Source evidence

    Code amendment note
    Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”.

    Enacted provision · exact public law section
    (K) in sections 35, 81, 112, 152, 153, 155, 212, 213, 214, 285, 334, 351, 435, 436, 438, 471, 472, 473, 476, 477, 478, 481, 485, 487, 488, 497, 498, 505, 506, 508, 509, 541, 542, 543, 544, 546, 547, 548, 549, 550, 551, 552, 592, 593, 602, 603, 606, 607, 642, 655, 658, 659, 660, 661, 663, 751, 799, 844, 872, 874, 875, 876, 877, 878, 914, 915, 924, 953, 954, 956, 1004, 1010, 1011, 1015, 1017, 1025, 1028, 1071, 1073, 1074, 1163, 1169, 1231, 1265, 1363, 1421, 1422, 1423, 1424, 1425, 1426, 1427, 1428, 1429, 1461, 1462, 1463, 1465, 1503, 1505, 1506, 1507, 1510, 1581, 1582, 1583, 1584, 1585, 1588, 1658, 1659, 1717, 1732, 1735, 1737, 1751, 1906, 1907, 1908, 1909, 1915, 1991, 2072, 2073, 2113, 2217, 2152, 2197, 2231, 2244, 2314, 2316, 2317, 2344, and 2701 by striking “not more than $5,000” each place it appears and inserting “under this title”;

1 of 2 references resolved to an enrolled provision · 1 partial

Notes

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 130 (June 15, 1917, ch. 30, title X, § 1, 40 Stat. 227).

To clarify scope of section and in view of definition of department or agency in section 6 of this title, words “department or agency” were substituted for “executive department, or of any bureau, commission, or office”.

Slight verbal changes were also made.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $5,000”.

Credits

1948–1994 · 2 acts
  1. 1948June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 753
  2. 1994Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), , 108 Stat. 2147.
Show as published

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 753; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(K), , 108 Stat. 2147.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc18.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-05-04

USLM identifier /us/usc/t18/s1017