38 U.S.C. § 1159
Section 1159 · Protection of service connection
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 14 court decisions — leading case 17 Vet. App. 305 - Segundo Mariano v. Anthony J. Principi (2003)
Most recently applied in Read v. Shinseki (June 2011)
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.
Service connection for any disability or death granted under this title which has been in force for ten or more years shall not be severed on or after January 1, 1962, except upon a showing that the original grant of service connection was based on fraud or it is clearly shown from military records that the person concerned did not have the requisite service or character of discharge. The mentioned period shall be computed from the date determined by the Secretary as the date on which the status commenced for rating purposes.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1991—Pub. L. 102–83, §5(a), renumbered section 359 of this title as this section.
Pub. L. 102–83, §4(b)(1), (2)(E), substituted “Secretary” for “Administrator”.
1962—Pub. L. 87–825 provided for computation of the period from the date the administrator determines as the date the status commenced for rating purposes.
Effective Date of 1962 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 87–825 effective first day of second calendar month which begins after Oct. 15, 1962, see section 7 of Pub. L. 87–825, set out as a note under section 110 of this title.