18 U.S.C. § 331
Section 331 · Mutilation, diminution, and falsification of coins
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 17 court decisions — leading case United States v. Jewell (1976)
Most recently applied in United States v. Norian Corp. (September 2017)
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 fraudulently alters, defaces, mutilates, impairs, diminishes, falsifies, scales, or lightens any of the coins coined at the mints of the United States, or any foreign coins which are by law made current or are in actual use or circulation as money within the United States; or
Whoever fraudulently possesses, passes, utters, publishes, or sells, or attempts to pass, utter, publish, or sell, or brings into the United States, any such coin, knowing the same to be altered, defaced, mutilated, impaired, diminished, falsified, scaled, or lightened—
Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §279 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §165, 35 Stat. 1119).
Mandatory punishment provision was rephrased in the alternative.
Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title.
Changes were also made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $2,000”.
1951—Act July 16, 1951, made section applicable to minor coins (5-cent and 1-cent pieces), and to fraudulent alteration of coins.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.