18 U.S.C. § 502
Section 502 · Postage and revenue stamps of foreign governments
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 19 court decisions — leading case Michigan Bureau of Workers' Disability Compensation v. Chateaugay Corp. (In Re Chateaugay Corp.) (1987)
Most recently applied in Newman v. Lehman Bros. Holdings Inc. (August 2018)
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 forges, or counterfeits, or knowingly utters or uses any forged or counterfeit postage stamp or revenue stamp of any foreign government, 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., §349 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §220, 35 Stat. 1132; May 26, 1926, ch. 396, 44 Stat. 653).
A paragraph defining “foreign government” was combined with other like provisions to form section 11 of this title. A proviso against repeal, “Provided, however, That nothing in this section shall be held to repeal or modify section 350 of this title [now section 504 of this title]”, was deleted as unnecessary since that section by express reference to this one makes it clear that these sections are in pari materia.
Minor changes in phraseology were also made.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500”.
Cross References
Jurisdiction of offenses, see section 3241 of this title.
Philatelic reproductions permitted, see section 504 of this title.