22 U.S.C. § 1973
Section 1973 · Reimbursement of owner for any direct charges paid to secure release of vessel and crew
Amended 5 times on record
Applied in 1 court decisions — leading case Cruz v. Zapata Ocean Resources, Inc. (1982)
Most recently applied in Cruz v. Zapata Ocean Resources, Inc. (December 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.
In any case where a vessel of the United States is seized by a foreign country under the conditions of section 1972 of this title and a fine, license fee, registration fee, or any other direct charge must be paid in order to secure the prompt release of the vessel and crew, the owners of the vessel shall be reimbursed by the Secretary of State in the amount determined and certified by him as being the amount of the fine, license fee, registration fee, or any other direct charge actually paid. For purposes of this section, the term “other direct charge” means any levy, however characterized or computed (including, but not limited to, any computation based on the value of a vessel or the value of fish or other property on board a vessel), which is imposed in addition to any fine, license fee, or registration fee. Any reimbursement under this section shall be made from the Fishermen's Protective Fund established pursuant to section 1979 of this title.
The Secretary of State shall make a determination and certification under subsection (a) of this section as soon as possible after he is notified pursuant to section 1972(b) of this title of the amounts of the fines, fees, and other direct charges which were paid by the owners to secure the release of their vessel and crew. The amount of reimbursement made by the Secretary of State to the owners of any vessel under subsection (a) of this section shall constitute a lien on the vessel which may be recovered in proceedings by libel in rem in the district court of the United States for any district within which the vessel may be. Any such lien shall terminate on the ninetieth day after the date on which the Secretary of State reimburses the owners under this section unless before such ninetieth day the United States initiates action to enforce the lien.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–364, §302(a)(1), substituted “Secretary of State in the amount determined and certified by him” for “Secretary of the Treasury in the amount certified to him by the Secretary of State”.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–364, §302(a)(2), inserted “determination and” before “certification” in first sentence, and substituted “State” for “the Treasury” in second and third sentences.
1976—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 94–265 inserted definition of “other direct charge”.
1972—Pub. L. 92–569 designated existing provisions as subsec. (a), inserted provision that reimbursement under this section shall be made from the Fishermen's Protective Fund, and added subsec. (b).
1968—Pub. L. 90–482 inserted “, license fee, registration fee, or any other direct charge” after “fine” wherever appearing.
Effective Date of 1976 Amendment
Section 403(b) of Pub. L. 94–265 provided in part that: “The amendment made by subsection (a)(2) [amending this section] shall apply with respect to seizures of vessels of the United States occurring on or after December 31, 1974.”
Effective Date of 1972 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 92–569 applicable with respect to seizure of vessels of the United States occurring on or after Oct. 26, 1972, except that reimbursements under this section may be made from the fund established by section 1979 of this title with respect to seizure of vessels occurring after Dec. 31, 1970 and before Oct. 26, 1972 if no reimbursement was made before Oct. 26, 1972, see section 6 of Pub. L. 92–569, set out as a note under section 1972 of this title.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Admiralty and maritime rules of practice (which included libel procedures) were superseded, and civil and admiralty procedures in United States district courts were unified, effective July 1, 1966, see rule 1 and Supplemental Rules for Certain Admiralty and Maritime Claims, Title 28, Appendix, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.