10 U.S.C. § 808
Section 808 · Art. 8. Apprehension of deserters
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case United States v. Latimer (1969)
Most recently applied in Davidson v. State (March 2008)
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.
Any civil officer having authority to apprehend offenders under the laws of the United States or of a State, Commonwealth, possession, or the District of Columbia may summarily apprehend a deserter from the armed forces and deliver him into the custody of those forces.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
The word “may” is substituted for the words “It shall be lawful for * * * to”. The words “a State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession, or the District of Columbia” are substituted for the words “any State, District, Territory, or possession of the United States”. The words “of the United States”, before the words “and deliver”, are omitted as surplusage. The words “those forces” are substituted for the words “the armed forces of the United States”, after the words “custody of”.
Amendments
2006—Pub. L. 109–163 substituted “Commonwealth, possession,” for “Territory, Commonwealth, or possession,”.