
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
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[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 10USC312]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle A--General Military Law
 
            PART I--ORGANIZATION AND GENERAL MILITARY POWERS
 
                         CHAPTER 13--THE MILITIA
 
Sec. 312. Militia duty: exemptions

    (a) The following persons are exempt from militia duty:
        (1) The Vice President.
        (2) The judicial and executive officers of the United States, 
    the several States and Territories, and Puerto Rico.
        (3) Members of the armed forces, except members who are not on 
    active duty.
        (4) Customhouse clerks.
        (5) Persons employed by the United States in the transmission of 
    mail.
        (6) Workmen employed in armories, arsenals, and naval shipyards 
    of the United States.
        (7) Pilots on navigable waters.
        (8) Mariners in the sea service of a citizen of, or a merchant 
    in, the United States.

    (b) A person who claims exemption because of religious belief is 
exempt from militia duty in a combatant capacity, if the conscientious 
holding of that belief is established under such regulations as the 
President may prescribe. However, such a person is not exempt from 
militia duty that the President determines to be noncombatant.

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 15; Pub. L. 100-456, div. A, title 
XII, Sec. 1234(a)(3), Sept. 29, 1988, 102 Stat. 2059.)

                                          Historical and Revision Notes
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---------------------------------
            Revised section                      Source (U.S. Code)            
   Source (Statutes at Large)
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---------------------------------
312(a)................................  32:3 (less last 67 words).           Ju
ne 3, 1916, ch. 134, Sec.  59, 39
312(b)................................  32:3 (last 67 words).                 S
tat. 197.
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---------------------------------

    In subsection (a), the words ``Members of the armed forces'' are 
substituted for the words ``persons in the military or naval service''. 
The words ``except members who are not on active duty'' are inserted to 
reflect an opinion of the Judge Advocate General of the Army (JAGA 1952/
4374, 9 July 1952). The word ``artificers'' is omitted as covered by the 
word ``workmen''. The words ``naval shipyards'' are substituted for the 
words ``navy yards'' to reflect modern terminology. The words ``on 
navigable waters'' are inserted to preserve the original coverage of the 
word ``pilots''. The words ``actually'' and ``without regard to age'' 
are omitted as surplusage.


                               Amendments

    1988--Subsec. (a)(2). Pub. L. 100-456 substituted ``and Puerto 
Rico'' for ``Puerto Rico, and the Canal Zone''.
