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States, or to a [vessels] vessel [which shall be] wholly owned by a [citizens] citizen of the United States[,] and [furnished with or] entitled to [sea letters or other customhouse documents] documentation.

NOTE

This section is based on title 46, U.S.C., 1964 ed., § 61 (R.S. § 4190).

The references to "sea letter" and "sea letters" have been deleted for the reasons stated in the note to section 271 of this act. See also T.D. 8508, approved Oct. 28, 1887; section 3.45, Customs Regulations (19 CFR 3.45). Cf. United States v. The Miranda, D.C. N. Y. 1891, 47 F. 815, affirmed 51 F. 523, 2 C.C.A. 362 (1892) and 25 Op. Atty. Gen. 75 (1903).

The words "or proving" following "certifying" in the introductory line have been deleted as surplusage.

The words "duly registered, enrolled, enrolled and licensed, or licensed as a vessel of the United States" are used for the reason stated in the last paragraph of the note to section 235 of this act.

The word "documentation" has been substituted for the ambiguous "other customhouse documents" in accordance with the intent of act Mar. 26, 1810, c. 19, 2 Stat. 568, from which this section is derived, to limit the issuance of documents certifying title to vessels entitled to registry or to enrollment and licensing. Changes have been made in phraseology as required in the context of this act.

SEC. 269. PENALTY FOR MISCONDUCT BY OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES.Every [collector or] officer or employee who knowingly makes[,] or is concerned in making[, any false register or record], or who knowingly grants or is concerned in granting, any false [certificate of registry or record] register, record, enrollment, enrollment and license, or license, of or for any vessel, or any other false certificate or document whatever touching the same, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this [Title] chapter, or who receives any [voluntary] reward or gratuity for any [of the] services performed pursuant thereto [;], or who takes any other or greater fees than are allowed by chapter 12 of this Act, and every [surveyor or other] person [appointed to measure] measuring any vessel[,] who willfully delivers to any [collector] officer or employee designated by the Secretary to receive it a false description of such vessel [,] to be registered, [or] recorded, enrolled, enrolled and licensed, or licensed, shall be [punished by a fine] liable to a penalty of $1,000 as to a vessel to be registered or recorded, or to a penalty of $500 as to any other vessel, and shall be rendered incapable of serving in any office of trust or profit under the United States.

NOTE

This section is based on title 46, U.S.C., 1964 ed., §§ 58, 321 (R.S. §§ 4187, 4373; 1950 Reorganization Plan No. 26, §§ 1, 2, eff. July 31, 1950, 15 F.R 4935, 64 Stat. 1280; 1965 Reorganization Plan No. 1, §§ 1, 2, eff. May 25, 1965, 30 F.R. 7035, 79 Stat. 1317).

This section consolidates R.S. § 4187, as amended (46 U.S.C. 58), and R.S. § 4373, as amended (46 U.S.C. 321), relating to penalties for misconduct of officers, respectively, under the registry and recording statutes, and under the statutes concerned with the enrollment and licensing of vessels. The result is that R.S. § 4373, as amended, which is set forth below for reference, has been omitted from this act:

"R.S. 4373. Every collector, who knowingly makes any record of enrollment or license of any vessel, and every other officer or person, appointed by or under them, who makes any record, or grants any certificate or other document whatever, contrary to the true intent and meaning of this title [R.S. 4311-4390], or takes any other or greater fees than are by this title allowed, or receives for any service performed pursuant to this title, any reward or gratuity, and every surveyor, or other person appointed to measure vessels, who willfully delivers to any

collector or such officer or employee as the Secretary of the Treasury shall designate a false description of any vessel, to be enrolled or licensed, in pursuance of this title, shall be liable to a penalty of $500, and be rendered incapable of serving in any office of trust or profit under the United States."

The words "or employee" have been inserted after "officer" in the introductory clause consistent with the use of the term "officer or employee" throughout this

act.

The words "officer or employee" and "officer or employee designated by the Secretary to receive it" have been substituted for "collector" in accordance with 1965 Reorganization Plan No. 1, which abolished the office of "collector [of customs.]."

The words "register, record, enrollment, enrollment and license, or license" and "registered, recorded, enrolled, enrolled and licensed, or licensed" are used for the reason stated in the last paragraph of the note to section 235 of this act.

The word "voluntary" preceding "reward," found in R.S. § 4187, is not found in R.S. § 4373, and has been omitted as surplusage.

The reference to "surveyor" has been deleted because the office of "surveyor" was abolished by act July 5, 1932, c. 430, title I, § 1, 47 Stat. 584 (19 U.S.C. 5a), and 1965 Reorganization Plan No. 1.

Changes have been made in phraseology in order to effect the consolidation and as required in the context of this act.

SEC. 270. PENALTY FOR NEGLECT BY OFFICERS OR EMPLOYEES. Every [person] officer or employee authorized and required by this [Title] chapter to perform any act [or thing as an officer] who willfully neglects or refuses to do or perform the same [] according to the true intent and meaning of this [Title] chapter [] shall, if not subject to the penalty and [disqualifications] disqualification prescribed in [the preceding] section 269 of this Act, be liable to a penalty of $500 for the first offense, and of a like sum for the second offense, and shall, after conviction for the second offense, be rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States.

NOTE

This section is based on title 46, U.S.C., 1964 ed., §§ 59, 322 (R.S. §§ 4188, 4374.) This section consolidates R.S. § 4188 (46 U.S.C. 59), relating to nonfeasance of officers under the registry and recording statutes, and R.S. § 4374 (46 U.S.C. 322), relating to nonfeasance of officers under the statutes concerned with enrollment and licensing. As a result, R.S. § 4374, which is set forth below for reference, has been omitted from this act:

"R.S. 4374. Every person, authorized and required by this title [R.S. 4311– 4390] to perform any act or thing as an officer who willfully neglects or refuses to do and perform the same, according to the true intent and meaning of this title, shall, if not subject to the penalty and disqualifications prescribed in the preceding section, be liable to a penalty of $500 for the first offense, and of a like sum for the second offense, and shall, after conviction for the second offense, be rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under the United States."

Changes have been made in phraseology as necessary to effect the consolidation and as required in the context of this act.

SEC. 271. PENALTY FOR MAKING OR USING FORGED OR FALSE PAPERS. (a) Every person who knowingly makes, utters, or publishes any false [sea letter, Mediterranean passport, or] certificate of registry, or who knowingly_avails himself of any such [Mediterranean passport, sea letter, or] certificate of registry, shall be liable to a penalty of not more than $5,000[,] and, if an officer or employee of the United States, shall thenceforth be rendered incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under [the authority of] the United States.

(b) Every person who forges, counterfeits, erases, alters, or falsifies any enrollment, enrollment and license, license, certificate, permit, or other document[] mentioned or required in this [Title] chapter[,] to be granted by any customs officer [of the revenue, such person so offending] shall be liable to a penalty of $500.

(c) This section and section 2197 of title 18, United States Code, shall be construed together.

NOTE

This section is based on title 46, U.S.C., 1964 ed., §§ 62, 323 (R.S. §§ 4191, 4375); title 18, U.S.C. 1964 ed., § 2197 (June 25, 1948, c. 645, 62 Stat. 801). This section consolidates R.S. § 4191 (46 U.S.C. 62) and R.S. § 4375 (46 U.S.Ć. 323), relating to the making or using, respectively of forged certificates of registry, and of other documents. Subsection (c) is new and has been added because act June 25, 1948, c. 645, 62 Stat. 801 (18 U.S.C. 2197), enacted into positive law, the text of which is appended hereto for reference, relates generally to the same subject matter as R.S. § 4191 and R.S. § 4375.

The references to "sea letter" and "Mediterranean passport" have been deleted in subsection (a) for reasons of obsolescence and desuetude. Although the use of such documents is said to have been discontinued by Presidential proclamation of Apr. 10, 1815 (see historical notes to 46 U.S.C. 61, 62, former 351-353, and 354; footnote at p. 148 of "Navigation Laws of the United States1940" to the effect that the last sea letter was issued at New York on Dec. 24, 1806), the authorities are replete with later references to such documents. Treasury Department circular of Mar. 25, 1831, in referring to an act to repeal the charges imposed on passports and clearances, approved Feb. 12, 1831, states: *** the repeal of the charges specified in it, is not to be considered as exonerating masters of vessels of the United States bound to any foreign ports, "other than to some port or place in America," from the obligation of previously taking out a Mediterranean passport, and, consequently, if they omit to do so, they will incur a penalty of $200 under the 4th section of the act of 1st June, 1796. "In corroboration of the correctness of this construction of the law, it may be proper to state, that, the 7th Article of the Treaty of the 23d December, 1816, with Algiers, calls for the document in question. If, therefore, any of our vessels be unprovided with it, they will also render themselves liable to seizure, detention &c. by the Barbary Powers."

See also the case of Harrison v. Vose, 50 U.S. 372 (1850), involving the act of Feb. 28, 1803 (2 Stat. 203), presently found as R.S. § 4309, as amended, 46 U.S.C. 354, and R.S. § 4310, as amended, 46 U.S.C. 355 (sec. 946 of this act). There it was in proof that the master had deposited "the register, sea-letter, and [Mediterranean] passport" with the American vice consul at Savannah la Mar, in Jamaica, but had not previously deposited them with the consul at Kingston, who sued him for the penalty. The action failed because it was held that the vessel's stop at Kingston did not constitute an "arrival" within the meaning of the act.

Attorney General Cushing, in an opinion of Aug. 7, 1854 (6. Op. Atty. Gen. 638) held that it was "inexact to say *** that sea-letters and certificates of ownership 'have become almost, if not altogether, obsolete,' by the operation of" the act of Mar. 26, 1810 (now R.S. 4190, 46 U.S. C. 61, sec. 268 of this act). "On the contrary," he went on, "'sea-letters or passports' may still be lawfully issued in the cases not forbidden by the act, and are by many of our treaties the only received evidence of the ownership and consequent nationality, of a merchant ship."

In addition to the Treaty with Algiers referred to above, which was terminated by French conquest in 1831, Wharton, International Law Digest (1886), volume III, pages 662-716, chapter XXII, "Ships' Papers and Sea-Letters, "discusses in detail the use of such documents and lists a number of other treaties, both prior and subsequent to the Treaty of 1816 with Algiers, which refer to ships' passports and sea letters.

The statutes in question were reenacted as part of the Revised Statutes of 1878, R.S. §§ 4306-4310 forming title XLIX (appended hereto for reference), now codified as 46 U.S.C. 351-355, and R.S. §§ 4190 and 4191 as 46 U.S.C. 61, 62 (secs. 268, 271 of this act).

The 1958 edition of title 46, United States Code, however, shows sections 351353 as omitted, stating in the historical note:

"Codification.__Sections R.S. §§ 4306-4308, related to passports of United States vessels. The use of sea letters and passports was discontinued by Presidential proclamation on Apr. 10, 1815."

R.S. 4306-4310 are found in each edition of the publication "Navigation Laws of the United States" from 1899 to and including 1931 but are omitted from the 1935 and 1940 editions, although R.S. §§ 4309 and 4310 are retained therein. A note following R.S. § 4309 in the 1935 and 1940 editions (the latter being the last published under official auspices) states once more that the use of sea letters and Mediterranean passports was discontinued by Presidential proclamation on April 10, 1815. Notwithstanding, a form of sea letter prepared during the administration of President Garfield (1881) is appended to Wharton, supra, facing page 716.

Sea letters, at least, seem to have been of two kinds; first a document issued to a vessel owned by citizens of the United States in addition to its regular document in time of war to evidence its neutral status; and second, a document issued to a vessel purchased by citizens of the United States in a foreign port to evidence citizen ownership although such vessel was ineligible for documentation.

In connection with the second circumstance, article 339 of the Consular Regulations of 1881 states:

"339. The existing general regulations of the Treasury Department under the customs and navigation laws (Customs Regulations, 1874) recognize the right of property in vessels of this character, and declare them to be entitled to the protection of the authorities and to the flag of the United States, although no register, enrollment, license or other marine document prescribed by the laws of the United States can lawfully be issued to such vessels whether they are American or foreignbuilt. The former practice of issuing sea letters in the case of the purchase abroad of American or foreign vessels by citizens of the United States is no longer authorized, and will not be permitted."

The context from which this is taken, Wharton, supra, § 410, pages 689-690, shows that "vessels of this character," above-referred to, are foreign ships purchased abroad by citizens of the United States.

Article 342 of the Consular Regulations of 1896, however, states:

"342. The existing general regulations of the Treasury Department under the customs and navigation laws (Customs Regulations, 1892) recognize the right of property in vessels of this character and declare them to be entitled to the protection of the authorities and to the flag of the United States, although no register, enrollment, license, or other marine document prescribed by the laws of the United States can lawfully be issued to such vessels, whether they are American or foreign built. The former practice of issuing sea letters in the case of the purchase abroad of American or foreign vessels by citizens of the United States is no longer authorized. Nevertheless, though the issuing of sea letters to such ships is not now authorized, yet there would seem to be no good reason upon the face of our present legislation why the Department of State should not resume the practice, in case the United States should be a neutral in a war between maritime powers, if it should deem such letters more protective in their character than consular or customs certificates of sale."

Article 341 makes clear that "vessels of this character" are "foreign vessels" purchased abroad by American citizens. See Report of the Commissioner of Navigation 1901, page 417.

In this connection, however, act Mar. 4, 1915, c. 172, § 1, 38 Stat. 1193, 46 U.S.C. 12 (sec. 207 of this act), provides that consular officers and such other persons as may be designated by the President for the purpose are authorized to issue provisional certificates of registry to vessels abroad which have been purchased by citizens of the United States. Act Aug. 24, 1912, c. 390, § 5, 37 Stat. 562, R.S. § 4132, as amended, 46 U.S.C. 11 (par. (6) of subsec. (a) of sec. 205 of this act), referred to in act Mar. 4, 1915, provides for the admission of foreignbuilt vessels to registry under certain circumstances.

The need for the issuance of "sea-letters" at the time of purchase of a foreign vessel abroad may have been obviated by the provisions for issuance of a provisional certificate of registry (sec. 206 of this act), or by issuance of a "Certificate of American Ownership" by consular officers in pursuance of sections 571.1 and 571.5-1, volume 7, Special Consular Affairs, Foreign Affairs Manual, Department of State (1961).

In any event, there has been no provision in the Customs Regulations concerning the issuance of sea letters and passports to vessels subsequent to 1931. The Customs Regulations, 1931, provided:

"ART. 15. Marine documents, sea letters, and passports.-(a) Marine documents consist of certificates of registry, enrollments, and licenses. In addition to these,

sea letters and passports for vessels in time of war may be issued through collectors of customs, on application, to registered vessels engaged in the foreign trade by sea, as an additional protection and evidence of nationality. Such sea letters and passports are in all cases to be surrendered with the certificate of registry at the expiration of the voyage.'

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This section did not, however, refer to the issuance of sea letters to vessels purchased abroad by citizens of the United States.

The Customs Regulations of 1937 provided:

"ART. 19. Marine documents.- (a) Marine documents consist of certificates of registry, enrollments, and licenses."

The reference to sea letters and passports thus is omitted, and there is no reference thereto in the Customs Regulations issued thereafter.

For the foregoing reasons, the references to "Mediterranean passport" and "Sea letter" in this section and in sections 268 and 946 of this act have been deleted.

The words "or employee" have been inserted after "officer" in subsection (a), and the words "customs officer" substituted for "officer of the revenue" in subsection (b), consistent with the usage of such designations throughout the act. The words "enrollment and license" have been inserted following "enrollment" for the reason stated in the last paragraph of the note to section 235 of this act. Changes have been made in arrangement and phraseology as required in the context of this act:

"Section 2197, title 18, United States Code

"§ 2197. Misuse of federal certificate, license or document

"Whoever, not being lawfully entitled thereto, uses, exhibits, or attempts to use or exhibit, or, with intent unlawfully to use the same, receives or possesses any certificate, license, or document issued to vessels, or officers or seamen by any officer or employee of the United States authorized by law to issue the same;

or

"Whoever, without authority, alters or attempts to alter any such certificate, license, or document by addition, interpolation, deletion, or erasure; or

"Whoever forges, counterfeits, or steals, or attempts to forge, counterfeit, or steal, any such certificate, license, or document; or unlawfully possesses or knowingly uses any such altered, changed, forged, counterfeit, or stolen certificate, license, or document; or

"Whoever, without authority, prints or manufactures any blank form of such certificate, license, or document; or

"Whoever possesses without lawful excuse, and with intent unlawfully to use the same, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document; or

"Whoever, in any manner transfers or negotiates such transfer of, any blank form of such certificate, license, or document, or any such altered, forged, counterfeit, or stolen certificate, license, or document, or any such certificate, license, or document to which the party transferring or receiving the same is not lawfully entitled

"Shall be fined not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both. June 25, 1948, c. 645, 62 Stat. 801.

"Revised Statutes, title XLIX

"SEC. 4306. Every vessel of the United States, going to any foreign country, shall, before she departs from the United States, at the request of the master, be furnished by the collector for the district where such vessel may be, with a passport, the form for which shall be prescribed by the Secretary of State. In order to be entitled to such passport, the master of every such vessel shall be bound, with sufficient sureties, to the Treasurer of the United States, in the penalty of two thousand dollars, conditioned that the passport shall not be applied to the use or protection of any other vessel than the one described in it; and that, in case of the loss or sale of any vessel having such passport, the same shall, within three months, be delivered up to the collector from whom it was received, if the loss or sale take place within the United States; or within six months, if the same shall happen at any place nearer than the Cape of Good Hope; and within eighteen months, if at a more distant place.

"SEC. 4307. If any vessel of the United States shall depart therefrom, and shall be bound to any foreign country, other than to some port in America, without such passport, the master of such vessel shall be liable to a penalty of two hundred dollars for every such offense.

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