41 U.S.C. § 12
Section 12 · No contract to exceed appropriation
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case United States ex rel. Kessler v. Mercur Corp. (1936)
Most recently applied in C. H. Leavell & Co. v. United States (January 1976)
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.
No contract shall be entered into for the erection, repair, or furnishing of any public building, or for any public improvement which shall bind the Government to pay a larger sum of money than the amount in the Treasury appropriated for the specific purpose.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §3733 derived from act July 25, 1868, ch. 233, §3, 15 Stat. 177.
Cross References
Contracting officer paying larger amount than specific appropriation, punishment for, see section 435 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.
Foreign military personnel, furnishing facilities for training of without regard to this section, see section 2396 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Making of contracts for public buildings on partial appropriations, see section 261 of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works.
Projects under Mexican treaties, authority to enter into contracts beyond amount appropriated, notwithstanding this section, see section 277d–3 of Title 22, Foreign Relations and Intercourse.
Section inapplicable to lease-purchase contracts, see section 356 of Title 40, Public Buildings, Property, and Works.