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Title 18 — Crimes and Criminal Procedure

Part I · Chapter 11 — Bribery, Graft, and Conflicts of Interest

§ 210. Offer to procure appointive public office

Statutory text

Whoever pays or offers or promises any money or thing of value, to any person, firm, or corporation in consideration of the use or promise to use any influence to procure any appointive office or place under the United States for any person, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, 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. § 210

    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 694, § 210, formerly § 214

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 694, § 210, formerly § 214

  2. Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994

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

    Substituted · 18 U.S.C. § 210

    Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”

    Source evidence

    Code amendment note
    Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.

    Enacted provision · exact public law section
    (H) in sections 81, 210, 211, 215, 217, 242, 245, 291, 292, 439, 442, 480, 483, 484, 490, 491, 494, 495, 503, 507, 510, 594, 595, 596, 597, 598, 599, 604, 605, 641, 643, 645, 646, 647, 648, 649, 650, 651, 652, 653, 654, 655, 656, 657, 658, 659, 661, 662, 665, 712, 751, 752, 756, 795, 796, 797, 836, 844, 871, 875, 876, 877, 879, 911, 912, 913, 924, 957, 959, 961, 1003, 1012, 1021, 1025, 1026, 1071, 1112, 1163, 1262, 1263, 1264, 1301, 1302, 1304, 1306, 1341, 1342, 1343, 1361, 1363, 1384, 1504, 1508, 1509, 1657, 1705, 1706, 1707, 1711, 1715, 1716, 1733, 1738, 1761, 1762, 2276, 2277, 2278, 2382, and 2389 by striking “not more than $1,000” 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., §§ 149 and 151 (, c. 3, §§ 1, 3, 44 Stat. 918).

Changes of style and substance were made in this section.

Term “or place” was inserted after words “appointive office” in order to give broader scope to the section and also to follow the phraseology used in similar provisions of section 202 of Title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., now section 216 [repealed] of this title. (See 46 Corpus Juris 924, where it is explained that the work “places” is used in a less technical sense than the word “offices”.)

The punishment provision, added at the end of this section and section 215 [now section 211] of this title to secure uniformity of style throughout this chapter, was originally enacted as a separate section, incorporating the other two by reference. 80th Congress House Report No. 304.

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 210, act June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 693, related to acceptance of a bribe by a witness, prior to the general amendment of this chapter by Pub. L. 87–849 and is substantially covered in revised section 201.

Amendments

1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $1,000”.

Credits

1948–1994 · 3 acts
  1. 1948June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 694, § 210, formerly § 214
  2. 1962renumbered § 210, Pub. L. 87–849, § 1(b), , 76 Stat. 1125
  3. 1994Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), , 108 Stat. 2147.
Show as published

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 694, § 210, formerly § 214; renumbered § 210, Pub. L. 87–849, § 1(b), , 76 Stat. 1125; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, § 330016(1)(H), , 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/s210