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Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Part I · Chapter 51 — Homicide

§ 1115. Misconduct or neglect of ship officers

Statutory text

Every captain, engineer, pilot, or other person employed on any steamboat or vessel, by whose misconduct, negligence, or inattention to his duties on such vessel the life of any person is destroyed, and every owner, charterer, inspector, or other public officer, through whose fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law the life of any person is destroyed, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both.

When the owner or charterer of any steamboat or vessel is a corporation, any executive officer of such corporation, for the time being actually charged with the control and management of the operation, equipment, or navigation of such steamboat or vessel, who has knowingly and willfully caused or allowed such fraud, neglect, connivance, misconduct, or violation of law, by which the life of any person is destroyed, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten 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. § 1115

    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 757

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 757

  2. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

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

    Substituted · 18 U.S.C. § 1115

    Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000” in two places

    Source evidence

    Code amendment note
    Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000” in two places.

    Enacted provision · exact public law section
    (L) in sections 33, 224, 231, 241, 245, 246, 286, 289, 332, 335, 337, 351, 371, 437, 440, 441, 493, 496, 500, 510, 545, 595, 599, 600, 601, 641, 664, 665, 667, 757, 792, 793, 798, 844, 892, 893, 894, 924, 952, 955, 962, 963, 964, 965, 966, 967, 970, 1001, 1002, 1003, 1019, 1020, 1022, 1023, 1027, 1082, 1084, 1115, 1202, 1361, 1362, 1364, 1365, 1385, 1461, 1462, 1464, 1587, 1623, 1654, 1656, 1735, 1737, 1751, 1902, 1903, 1904, 1910, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1958, 1992, 2101, 2113, 2153, 2154, 2155, 2156, 2231, 2232, 2271, 2274, 2275, 2314, 2315, 2383, 2386, 2387, 2388, and 2512 by striking “not more than $10,000” 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., § 461 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 282, 35 Stat. 1144).

Section restores the intent of the original enactments, R.S. § 5344, and act Mar. 3, 1905, ch. 1454, § 5, 33 Stat. 1025, and makes this section one of general application. In the Criminal Code of 1909, by placing it in chapter 11, limited to places within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, such original intent was inadvertently lost as indicated by the entire absence of report or comment on such limitation.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $10,000” in two places.

Credits

1948–1994 · 2 acts
  1. 1948June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 757
  2. 1994Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), , 108 Stat. 2147.
Show as published

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 757; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(L), , 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/s1115