15 U.S.C. § 1671
Section 1671 · Congressional findings and declaration of purpose
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 107 court decisions — leading case Guidry v. Sheet Metal Workers International Ass'n, Local No. 9 (1993)
Most recently applied in Knell v. Knell (July 2019)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 15 U.S.C. § 1673 · 15 U.S.C. § 1672 · 15 U.S.C. § 1674
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 Congress finds:
(1) The unrestricted garnishment of compensation due for personal services encourages the making of predatory extensions of credit. Such extensions of credit divert money into excessive credit payments and thereby hinder the production and flow of goods in interstate commerce.
(2) The application of garnishment as a creditors’ remedy frequently results in loss of employment by the debtor, and the resulting disruption of employment, production, and consumption constitutes a substantial burden on interstate commerce.
(3) The great disparities among the laws of the several States relating to garnishment have, in effect, destroyed the uniformity of the bankruptcy laws and frustrated the purposes thereof in many areas of the country.
On the basis of the findings stated in subsection (a) of this section, the Congress determines that the provisions of this subchapter are necessary and proper for the purpose of carrying into execution the powers of the Congress to regulate commerce and to establish uniform bankruptcy laws.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
The bankruptcy laws, referred to in subsec. (b), are generally classified to Title 11 (§101 et seq.), Bankruptcy.
Effective Date
Section 504(c) of Pub. L. 90 321 provided that: “Title III [enacting this section and sections 1672 to 1677 of this title] takes effect on July 1, 1970.”