
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: 10USC7653]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle C--Navy and Marine Corps
 
                     PART IV--GENERAL ADMINISTRATION
 
                           CHAPTER 655--PRIZE
 
Sec. 7653. Court in which proceedings brought

    (a) If a prize is brought into a port of the United States, or the 
Territories, Commonwealths, or possessions, proceedings for the 
adjudication of the prize cause shall be brought in the district in 
which the port is located.
    (b) If a prize is brought into the territorial waters of a 
cobelligerent, or is brought into a locality in the temporary or 
permanent possession of, or occupied by, the armed forces of the United 
States, or is appropriated for the use of the United States, before 
proceedings are started, the venue of the proceedings for adjudication 
of the cause shall be in the judicial district selected by the Attorney 
General, or his designee, for the convenience of the United States.
    (c) If the prize property is lost or entirely destroyed or if, 
because of its condition, no part of it has been or can be sent in for 
adjudication, proceedings for adjudication of the cause may be brought 
in any district designated by the Secretary of the Navy. In such cases 
the proceeds of anything sold shall be deposited with the Treasurer of 
the United States or public depositary in or nearest the district 
designated by the Secretary, subject to the orders of the court for that 
district.

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 474.)

                                          Historical and Revision Notes
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---------------------------------
            Revised section                      Source (U.S. Code)            
   Source (Statutes at Large)
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---------------------------------
7653(b)...............................  34 U.S.C. 1160.                      Au
g. 18, 1942, ch. 553, Sec.  2, 56
                                                                              S
tat. 746.
7653(c)...............................  34 U.S.C. 1141 (less last            R.
S. 4625 (less last sentence).
                                         sentence).
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---------------------------------

    Subsection (a) is inserted in order to present a complete statement 
of the subject matter of the section. Its substance is not specifically 
set out in the Revised Statutes but is strongly implied in 34 U.S.C. 
1135 which requires the United States attorney for the district in which 
the port is located to file a libel.
    In subsection (b) the requisites for jurisdiction conferred under 
the 1942 Act are substituted for the words ``brought under the 
jurisdiction conferred by this Act''. The substituted words are the same 
as those used in clauses (2), (3), and (4) of the preceding section 
except that the words ``before proceedings are started'' are added 
following the words ``appropriated for the use of the United States'' 
for clarity. An appropriation can take place before or after proceedings 
are commenced, but in the latter case there is no occasion for the 
Attorney General to determine venue.
    In subsection (c) the words ``or if because the whole has been 
appropriated to the use of the United States'' and the words ``or the 
value of anything taken or appropriated for the use of the United 
States'' are omitted. The provision in the 1942 Act which empowers the 
Attorney General to decide the venue of proceedings when the prize 
property has been appropriated is incompatible with the provision in 
R.S. 4625 which authorizes the Secretary of the Navy to select the 
judicial district in such cases. Hence the 1942 Act superseded R.S. 4625 
with respect to cases of this type. Deposit of the value of prize 
property appropriated by the United States is adequately covered in 
Sec. 7663 of this title and is not mentioned here. The second sentence 
of 34 U.S.C. 1141 (R.S. 4625), relating to proceedings by captors, is 
omitted because it was rendered inoperative by the Act of March 3, 1899, 
ch. 413, Sec. 13, 30 Stat. 1007, which repealed all laws authorizing the 
distribution of prize money to captors.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 7655 of this title.
