46 U.S.C. § 11107
Section 11107 · Unlawful engagements void
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 18 court decisions — leading case Seattle-First National Bank v. Conaway (1996)
Most recently applied in Borkowski v. Kate (March 2010)
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.
An engagement of a seaman contrary to a law of the United States is void. A seaman so engaged may leave the service of the vessel at any time and is entitled to recover the highest rate of wages at the port from which the seaman was engaged or the amount agreed to be given the seaman at the time of engagement, whichever is higher.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Section 11107 entitles seamen engaged contrary to any United States law to leave the service of the vessel without loss of wages.