48 U.S.C. § 1417
Section 1417 · Criminal jurisdiction
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.
All acts done, and offenses or crimes committed, on any island, rock, or key mentioned in section 1411 of this title, by persons who may land thereon, or in the waters adjacent thereto, shall be deemed committed on the high seas, on board a merchant ship or vessel belonging to the United States; and shall be punished according to the laws of the United States relating to such ships or vessels and offenses on the high seas, which laws for the purpose aforesaid are extended over such islands, rocks, and keys.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
R.S. §5576 derived from act Aug. 18, 1856, ch. 164, §6, 11 Stat. 120.
Cross References
Crimes committed on any island, rock, or key, containing deposits of guano, which may be considered as appertaining to the United States, to be punished as crimes under admiralty or maritime jurisdiction, see section 7 of Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure.