18 U.S.C. § 1018
Section 1018 · Official certificates or writings
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 20 court decisions — leading case Delaney v. United States (1952)
Most recently applied in 88 F. Supp. 3d 833 - Johnston v. Geise (February 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.
Whoever, being a public officer or other person authorized by any law of the United States to make or give a certificate or other writing, knowingly makes and delivers as true such a certificate or writing, containing any statement which he knows to be false, in a case where the punishment thereof is not elsewhere expressly provided by law, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §195 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §106, 35 Stat. 1107).
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500”.
Cross References
False certificate by revenue officer or agent, see section 7214 of Title 26, Internal Revenue Code.