46 U.S.C. § 31301
Section 31301 · Definitions
Current version, with additions and removals from the November 23, 1988 version.
In this chapter—
(1) “acknowledge” means making—
(A) an acknowledgment or notarization before a notary public or other official authorized by a law of the United States or a State to take acknowledgments of deeds; or
(B) a certificate issued under the Hague Convention Abolishing the Requirement of Legalisation for Foreign Public Documents, 1961;
(2) “district court” means—
(A) a district court of the United States (as defined in section 451 of title 28);
(B) the District Court of Guam;
(C) the District Court of the Virgin Islands;
(D) the District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands;
(E) the High Court of American Samoa; and
(F) any other court of original jurisdiction of a territory or possession of the United States;
(3) “mortgagee” means—
(A) a person to whom property is mortgaged; or
(B) when a mortgage on a vessel involves a trust, the trustee that is designated in the trust agreement;
(4) “necessaries” includes repairs, supplies, towage, and the use of a dry dock or marine railway;
(5) “preferred maritime lien” means a maritime lien on a vessel—
(A) arising before a preferred mortgage was filed under section 31321 of this title;
(B) for damage arising out of maritime tort;
(C) for wages of a stevedore when employed directly by a person listed in section 31341 of this title;
(D) for wages of the crew of the vessel;
(E) for general average; or
(6) “preferred mortgage”—
(A) means a mortgage that is a preferred mortgage under section 31322 of this title; and
(7) “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, unless otherwise noted.