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Title 43 — Public Lands

Chapter 29 — Submerged Lands

§ 1314. Rights and powers retained by United States; purchase of natural resources; condemnation of lands

Statutory text

(a)

The United States retains all its navigational servitude and rights in and powers of regulation and control of said lands and navigable waters for the constitutional purposes of commerce, navigation, national defense, and international affairs, all of which shall be paramount to, but shall not be deemed to include, proprietary rights of ownership, or the rights of management, administration, leasing, use, and development of the lands and natural resources which are specifically recognized, confirmed, established, and vested in and assigned to the respective States and others by section 1311 of this title.

(b)

In time of war or when necessary for national defense, and the Congress or the President shall so prescribe, the United States shall have the right of first refusal to purchase at the prevailing market price, all or any portion of the said natural resources, or to acquire and use any portion of said lands by proceeding in accordance with due process of law and paying just compensation therefor.

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. 83–65 · 67 Stat. 63

    Enacted · 43 U.S.C. § 1314

    (May 22, 1953, ch. 65, title II, § 6, 67 Stat. 32.)

    Source evidence

    Code source credit
    (May 22, 1953, ch. 65, title II, § 6, 67 Stat. 32.)

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

Credits

(May 22, 1953, ch. 65, title II, § 6, 67 Stat. 32.)

Parsed from the official OLRC USLM XML in data/usc_all/usc43.xml · release point 119-108 · OLRC build 2026-04-17

USLM identifier /us/usc/t43/s1314