18 U.S.C. § 486
Section 486 · Uttering coins of gold, silver or other metal
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case United States v. Hatcher (1970)
Most recently applied in United States v. Falvey (April 1982)
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, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal, or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or of original design, shall be fined under this title 1 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., §281 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §167, 35 Stat. 1120).
Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title.
Changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322, which directed the amendment of this section by substituting “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $2,000”, was executed by making the substitution for “fined not more than $3,000”, to reflect the probable intent of Congress.
Canal Zone
Applicability of section to Canal Zone, see section 14 of this title.