12 U.S.C. § 21
Section 21 · Formation of national banking associations; incorporators; articles of association
Applied in 348 court decisions — leading case Lewis v. BT Investment Managers, Inc. (1980)
Most recently applied in Lacewell v. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (June 2021)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 12 U.S.C. § 24 · 12 U.S.C. § 85 · 28 U.S.C. § 1331
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.
Associations for carrying on the business of banking under title 62 of the Revised Statutes may be formed by any number of natural persons, not less in any case than five. They shall enter into articles of association, which shall specify in general terms the object for which the association is formed, and may contain any other provisions, not inconsistent with law, which the association may see fit to adopt for the regulation of its business and the conduct of its affairs. These articles shall be signed by the persons uniting to form the association, and a copy of them shall be forwarded to the Comptroller of the Currency, to be filed and preserved in his office.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
Title 62 of the Revised Statutes, referred to in text, was in the original “this Title” meaning title 62 of the Revised Statutes, consisting of R.S. §§5133 to 5244, which are classified to sections 21, 22 to 24, 25a, 26 to 29, 35 to 37, 39, 43, 51, 52, 53, 56, 57, 59 to 62, 66, 71, 72 to 76, 81, 83 to 86, 90, 91, 93, 93a, 94, 101a, 102, 104, 107 to 110, 123, 124, 131 to 138, 141 to 144, 151, 152, 161, 164, 168 to 175, 181 to 186, 192 to 196, 215c, 481 to 485, 501, 541, 548, and 582 of this title. See, also, sections 8, 333, 334, 475, 656, 709, 1004, and 1005 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure. For complete classification of R.S. §§5133 to 5244 to the Code, see Tables.
Codification
R.S. §5133 derived from act June 3, 1864, ch. 106, §5, 13 Stat. 100, which was the National Bank Act. See section 38 of this title.
Exception as to Transfer of Functions
Functions vested by any provision of law in Comptroller of the Currency, referred to in this section, not included in transfer of functions to Secretary of the Treasury, see note set out under section 1 of this title.