9 U.S.C. § 1
Section 1 · Maritime transactions and commerce defined; exceptions to operation of title
This is the Federal Arbitration Act
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 3,766 court decisions — leading case Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital v. Mercury Construction Corp. (1983)
Most recently applied in Midland Credit Mgt. Inc. v. Bowers (March 2026)
Applied most in the First Circuit Circuit (124 decisions)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 9 U.S.C. § 2 · 9 U.S.C. § 3 · 9 U.S.C. § 4
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.
“Maritime transactions”, as herein defined, means charter parties, bills of lading of water carriers, agreements relating to wharfage, supplies furnished vessels or repairs to vessels, collisions, or any other matters in foreign commerce which, if the subject of controversy, would be embraced within admiralty jurisdiction; “commerce”, as herein defined, means commerce among the several States or with foreign nations, or in any Territory of the United States or in the District of Columbia, or between any such Territory and another, or between any such Territory and any State or foreign nation, or between the District of Columbia and any State or Territory or foreign nation, but nothing herein contained shall apply to contracts of employment of seamen, railroad employees, or any other class of workers engaged in foreign or interstate commerce.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Derivation
Act Feb. 12, 1925, ch. 213, §1, 43 Stat. 883.