10 U.S.C. § 2683
Section 2683 · Relinquishment of legislative jurisdiction; minimum drinking age on military installations
Amended 6 times on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case In Re Air Crash Disaster at Gander, Newfoundland (1987)
Most recently applied in 901 F. Supp. 2d 654 - Federico v. Lincoln Military Housing (October 2012)
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.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary concerned may, whenever he considers it desirable, relinquish to a State, or to a Commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States, all or part of the legislative jurisdiction of the United States over lands or interests under his control in that State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession. Relinquishment of legislative jurisdiction under this section may be accomplished (1) by filing with the Governor (or, if none exists, with the chief executive officer) of the State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession concerned a notice of relinquishment to take effect upon acceptance thereof, or (2) as the laws of the State, Commonwealth, territory, or possession may otherwise provide.
(b) The authority granted by subsection (a) is in addition to and not instead of that granted by any other provision of law.
(c)(1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3), the Secretary concerned shall establish and enforce as the minimum drinking age on a military installation located in a State the age established by the law of that State as the State minimum drinking age.
(2)(A) In the case of a military installation located—
(i) in more than one State; or
(ii) in one State but within 50 miles of another State or Mexico or Canada,
the Secretary concerned may establish and enforce as the minimum drinking age on that military installation the lowest applicable age.
(B) In subparagraph (A), the term “lowest applicable age” means the lowest minimum drinking age established by the law—
(i) of a State in which a military installation is located; or
(ii) of a State or jurisdiction of Mexico or Canada that is within 50 miles of such military installation.
(3)(A) The commanding officer of a military installation may waive the requirement of paragraph (1) if such commanding officer determines that the exemption is justified by special circumstances.
(B) The Secretary of Defense shall define by regulations what constitute special circumstances for the purposes of this paragraph.
(4) In this subsection:
(A) The term “State” includes the District of Columbia.
(B) The term “minimum drinking age” means the minimum age or ages established for persons who may purchase, possess, or consume alcoholic beverages.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1988—Subsec. (c)(2)(B). Pub. L. 100–526, §106(b)(2)(A), substituted “the term ‘lowest applicable age’ ” for “ ‘lowest age’ ”.
Subsec. (c)(4)(A). Pub. L. 100–526, §106(b)(2)(B)(i), substituted “The term ‘State’ ” for “ ‘State’ ”.
Subsec. (c)(4)(B). Pub. L. 100–526, §106(b)(2)(B)(ii), substituted “The term ‘minimum’ ” for “ ‘Minimum’ ”.
1986—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 99–661 struck out “this” before “subsection (a)”.
1985—Pub. L. 99–145, §1224(c)(1), inserted “; minimum drinking age on military installations” in section catchline.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 99–145, §1224(b)(1), substituted “subsection (a)” for “section”.
Subsec. (c). Pub. L. 99–145, §1224(a), added subsec. (c).
1974—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 93–283 substituted “Secretary concerned” for “Secretary of a military department”.
1972—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 92–545 provided for relinquishment of all or part of legislative jurisdiction of the United States over lands or interests to Commonwealths, territories, or possessions of the United States.
Effective Date of 1985 Amendment
Section 1224(d) of Pub. L. 99–145 provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section and section 473 of Title 50, Appendix, War and National Defense] shall take effect 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act [Nov. 8, 1985].”