25 U.S.C. § 354
Section 354 · Lands not liable for debts prior to final patent
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Jordan v. O'Brien (1945)
Most recently applied in 847 F. Supp. 1147 - Schueler v. Rayjas Enterprises, Inc. (April 1994)
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.
No lands acquired under the provisions of this Act shall, in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior to the issuing of the final patent in fee therefor.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This Act, referred to in text, is act Feb. 8, 1887, ch. 119, 24 Stat. 388, as amended, and is popularly known as the Indian General Allotment Act. For classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 331 of this title and Tables.