Title 16ConservationRelease 119-73

§820 Proceedings for revocation of license or to prevent violations of license

Title 16 › Chapter CHAPTER 12— - FEDERAL REGULATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF POWER › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER I— - REGULATION OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER POWER AND RESOURCES › § 820

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Attorney General can go to the federal district court where a project is located, when asked by the commission or the Secretary of the Army, to cancel a permit or license if its terms are broken or to get court orders to stop or fix actions that violate the law or official rules. The courts must hear these cases and can force people to follow orders and meet license conditions. If a court cancels a license, it can sell all or part of the project, close the licensee’s related business, pay people who are owed money, and make other fair orders. A buyer at the sale takes the license rights, duties, and any liabilities the court finds fair. The United States can buy at the sale but won’t have to pay more than the law allows at the end of a license.

Full Legal Text

Title 16, §820

Conservation — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The Attorney General may, on request of the commission or of the Secretary of the Army, institute proceedings in equity in the district court of the United States in the district in which any project or part thereof is situated for the purpose of revoking for violation of its terms any permit or license issued hereunder, or for the purpose of remedying or correcting by injunction, mandamus, or other process any act of commission or omission in violation of the provisions of this chapter or of any lawful regulation or order promulgated hereunder. The district courts shall have jurisdiction over all of the above-mentioned proceedings and shall have power to issue and execute all necessary process and to make and enforce all writs, orders and decrees to compel compliance with the lawful orders and regulations of the commission and of the Secretary of the Army, and to compel the performance of any condition imposed under the provisions of this chapter. In the event a decree revoking a license is entered, the court is empowered to sell the whole or any part of the project or projects under license, to wind up the business of such licensee conducted in connection with such project or projects, to distribute the proceeds to the parties entitled to the same, and to make and enforce such further orders and decrees as equity and justice may require. At such sale or sales the vendee shall take the rights and privileges belonging to the licensee and shall perform the duties of such licensee and assume all outstanding obligations and liabilities of the licensee which the court may deem equitable in the premises; and at such sale or sales the United States may become a purchaser, but it shall not be required to pay a greater amount than it would be required to pay under the provisions of section 807 of this title at the termination of the license.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Proceedings in equity, referred to in text, were abolished by the adoption of Rule 2 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, set out in the Appendix to Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, which provided that “there shall be one form of action to be known as ‘civil action’ ”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

Department of War designated Department of the Army and title of Secretary of War changed to Secretary of the Army by section 205(a) of act
July 26, 1947, ch. 343, title II, 61 Stat. 501. section 205(a) of act
July 26, 1947, was repealed by section 53 of act Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 641. section 1 of act Aug. 10, 1956, enacted “Title 10, Armed Forces” which in sections 3010 to 3013 continued military Department of the Army under administrative supervision of Secretary of the Army.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

16 U.S.C. § 820

Title 16Conservation

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73