48 U.S.C. § 821
Section 821 · Legislative power
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 12 court decisions — leading case Guerrido v. Alcoa Steamship Co. (1956)
Most recently applied in Franklin California Tax-Free v. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (July 2015)
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.
The legislative authority shall extend to all matters of a legislative character not locally inapplicable, including power to create, consolidate, and reorganize the municipalities so far as may be necessary, and to provide and repeal laws and ordinances therefor; also the power to alter, amend, modify, or repeal any or all laws and ordinances of every character in force in Puerto Rico or municipality or district thereof on March 2, 1917, insofar as such alteration, amendment, modification, or repeal may be consistent with the provisions of this chapter.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
References in Text
This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original “this Act”, meaning act Mar. 2, 1917, ch. 145, 39 Stat. 951, as amended, known as the Puerto Rican Federal Relations Act and also popularly known as the Jones Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see Short Title note set out under section 731 of this title and Tables.
Change of Name
“Puerto Rico” substituted in text for “Porto Rico” pursuant to act May 17, 1932, which is classified to section 731a of this title.