18 U.S.C. § 1863
Section 1863 · Trespass on national forest lands
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 13 court decisions — leading case United States v. Hyde (1971)
Most recently applied in 318 F. Supp. 2d 1113 - DirecTV, Inc. v. Baker (May 2004)
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.
Whoever, without lawful authority or permission, goes upon any national-forest land while it is closed to the public pursuant to lawful regulation of the Secretary of Agriculture, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
This section [section 43] incorporates in revised title 18, U.S.C., as section 1863 thereof, and with changes in phraseology, the provisions of act of February 10, 1948 (ch. 51, 62 Stat. 19), which was not incorporated in title 18 when the revision was enacted. The phrase “without hard labor” is omitted from the punishment clause as unnecessary, in conformity with the uniform style of such title. (See reviser's note to sec. 1 of such revised title, appearing in H. Rept. No. 304, April 24, 1947, to accompany H.R. 3190, 80th Cong. (pp. A2, A4 of such report).) The concluding proviso that “nothing herein shall be construed to limit the authority of the Secretary of Agriculture under other law to otherwise provide for regulating the occupancy and use of national-forest lands and lands administered by the Forest Service”, is omitted as surplusage.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500”.