1 U.S.C. § 3
Section 3 · Vessel as including all means of water transportation
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 196 court decisions — leading case Foremost Insurance v. Richardson (1982)
Most recently applied in William Ehart, Jr. v. Lahaina Divers, Inc. (February 2024)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 28 U.S.C. § 1333 · 33 U.S.C. § 905 · 33 U.S.C. § 902
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
The word “vessel” includes every description of watercraft or other artificial contrivance used, or capable of being used, as a means of transportation on water.