46 U.S.C. § 70504
Section 70504 · Jurisdiction and venue
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 31 court decisions — leading case United States v. Vilches-Navarrete (2008)
Most recently applied in United States v. Juan Carlos Acosta Hurtado (December 2023)
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.
(a) Jurisdiction.—Jurisdiction of the United States with respect to a vessel subject to this chapter is not an element of an offense. Jurisdictional issues arising under this chapter are preliminary questions of law to be determined solely by the trial judge.
(b) Venue.—A person violating section 70503 or 70508—
(1) shall be tried in the district in which such offense was committed; or
(2) if the offense was begun or committed upon the high seas, or elsewhere outside the jurisdiction of any particular State or district, may be tried in any district.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Section
Amendments
2017—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–91 amended subsec. (b) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (b) read as follows:
"(b) Venue.—A person violating section 70503 or 70508 of this title shall be tried in the district court of the United States for—
"(1) the district at which the person enters the United States; or
"(2) the District of Columbia."
2008—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 110–407 inserted "or 70508" after "70503" in introductory provisions.