Title 10 — Armed ForcesRelease 119-73
§8878 Interfering with delivery, custody, or sale of prize property
Title 10 › Subtitle Subtitle C— - Navy and Marine Corps › Part PART IV— - GENERAL ADMINISTRATION › Chapter CHAPTER 883— - PRIZE › § 8878
Summary
Knowingly tampering with captured prize property, its papers, or records to cheat, delay, or harm the United States or a claimant is punishable by up to a $10,000 fine, up to five years in prison, or both.
Full Legal Text
Title 10, §8878
Armed Forces — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Whoever willfully does, or aids or advises in the doing of, any act relating to the bringing in, custody, preservation, sale, or other disposition of any property captured as prize, or relating to any documents or papers connected with the property or to any deposition or other document or paper connected with the proceedings, with intent to defraud, delay, or injure the United States or any claimant of that property, shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Revised sectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 767834 U.S.C. 1167.Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 38, 35 Stat. 1096. The words “captor or” between “any” and “claimant” are omitted because the Act of March 3, 1899, ch. 413, § 13, 30 Stat. 1007, repealed all laws authorizing the distribution of prize proceeds to captors. These words were apparently carried over inadvertently to § 38 of the 1909 Act from the source of that section, namely R.S. 5441. The section is worded in the style of Title 18, U.S. Code.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 7678 of this title as this section.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Effective Date
of 2018 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of
Amendments
and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
10 U.S.C. § 8878
Title 10 — Armed Forces
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73