§ 3. Use of flag for advertising purposes; mutilation of flag

Statutory text

Any person who, within the District of Columbia, in any manner, for exhibition or display, shall place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement of any nature upon any flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America; or shall expose or cause to be exposed to public view any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign upon which shall have been printed, painted, or otherwise placed, or to which shall be attached, appended, affixed, or annexed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, or drawing, or any advertisement of any nature; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall manufacture, sell, expose for sale, or to public view, or give away or have in possession for sale, or to be given away or for use for any purpose, any article or substance being an article of merchandise, or a receptacle for merchandise or article or thing for carrying or transporting merchandise, upon which shall have been printed, painted, attached, or otherwise placed a representation of any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign, to advertise, call attention to, decorate, mark, or distinguish the article or substance on which so placed shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $100 or by imprisonment for not more than thirty days, or both, in the discretion of the court. The words “flag, standard, colors, or ensign”, as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.

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.

1947
4 U. S. C., § —
Pub. L. 80–389 · 61 Stat. 641
Enacted · 4 U.S.C. § 3
July 30, 1947, ch. 389, 61 Stat. 642
Source evidence
Code source credit
July 30, 1947, ch. 389, 61 Stat. 642
1968
Pub. L. 90–381 § 3 · 82 Stat. 291
Struck · 4 U.S.C. § 3
Pub. L. 90–381 struck out “; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign,” after “substance on which so placed”
Source evidence
Code amendment note
Pub. L. 90–381 struck out “; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign,” after “substance on which so placed”.
Enacted provision · exact public law section
Sec. 3. Section 3 of title 4, United States Code, is amended by striking 61 Stat. 642. from the first, sentence thereof the following: “; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign,”.

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

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1968—Pub. L. 90–381 struck out “; or who, within the District of Columbia, shall publicly mutilate, deface, defile or defy, trample upon, or cast contempt, either by word or act, upon any such flag, standard, colors, or ensign,” after “substance on which so placed”.

Credits

1947–1968 · 2 acts

1947July 30, 1947, ch. 389, 61 Stat. 642
1968Pub. L. 90–381, § 3, July 5, 1968, 82 Stat. 291.

Show as published

(July 30, 1947, ch. 389, 61 Stat. 642; Pub. L. 90–381, § 3, July 5, 1968, 82 Stat. 291.)