§3 — Title 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters | U.S. Code

Summary

The Secretary of the Army can make rules to protect life and property on U.S. navigable waters and other waters under U.S. control when those waters are endangered by artillery target practice, government ordnance proving grounds (such as Sandy Hook, New Jersey, or others), submarine mines, cables, seacoast fortification materials, or public river and harbor work. The Secretary can also control the transport of explosives on those waters. Those rules must not unreasonably stop the food fishing industry, and must allow food fishermen to use the waters if they have permits from the Department of the Army. To enforce the rules, the Secretary may use Army public vessels or ask other departments to use their public vessels. The rules must be posted in clear public places the Secretary picks. Anyone who intentionally breaks the rules commits a misdemeanor and, if convicted, can be fined up to $500 or jailed for up to six months, as the court decides. If the offense occurs in a U.S. territory without a federal criminal court, local courts that handle crimes will try the case and appeals follow the usual process. If the offense happens where no court has territory, it will be treated as having happened where the offender is found or first brought and tried there.

Title 33, §3

Navigation and Navigable Waters — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

[Authority to adopt regulations.] In the interest of the national defense, and for the better protection of life and property on the navigable waters of the United States, the Secretary of the Army is authorized and empowered to prescribe such regulations as he may deem best for the use and navigation of any portion or area of the navigable waters of the United States or waters under the jurisdiction of the United States endangered or likely to be endangered by Artillery fire in target practice or otherwise, or by the proving operations of the Government ordnance proving grounds at Sandy Hook, New Jersey, or at any Government ordnance proving ground that may be established elsewhere on or near such waters, and of any portion or area of said waters occupied by submarine mines, mine fields, submarine cables, or other material and accessories pertaining to seacoast fortifications, or by any plant or facility engaged in the execution of any public project of river and harbor improvement; and the said Secretary shall have like power to regulate the transportation of explosives upon any of said waters: Provided, That the authority conferred shall be so exercised as not unreasonably to interfere with or restrict the food fishing industry, and the regulations prescribed in pursuance hereof shall provide for the use of such waters by food fishermen operating under permits granted by the Department of the Army. [Detail of vessels to enforce regulations.] To enforce the regulations prescribed pursuant to this section, the Secretary of the Army, may detail any public vessel in the service of the Department of the Army, or, upon the request of the Secretary of the Army, the head of any other department may enforce, and the head of any such department is authorized to enforce, such regulations by means of any public vessel of such department. [Posting and violation of regulations.] The regulations made by the Secretary of the Army pursuant to this section shall be posted in conspicuous and appropriate places, designated by him, for the information of the public; and every person who and every corporation which shall willfully violate any regulations made by the said Secretary pursuant to this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof in any court of competent jurisdiction shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $500, or by imprisonment (in the case of a natural person) not exceeding six months, in the discretion of the court. [Venue and jurisdiction of offenses; procedure.] Offenses against the provisions of this section, or any regulation made pursuant thereto, committed in any Territory or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States where there is no court having general jurisdiction of crimes against the United States, shall be cognizable in any court of such place or Territory having original jurisdiction of criminal cases in the place or Territory in which the offense has been committed, with the same right of appeal in all cases as is given in other criminal cases where imprisonment not exceeding six months forms a part of the penalty, and jurisdiction is conferred upon such courts and such courts shall exercise the same for such purposes; and in case any such offense be committed beyond the territorial jurisdiction of any court having jurisdiction thereof, the offense shall be deemed and held to have been committed within the jurisdiction in which the offender may be found or into which he is first brought, and shall be tried by the court having jurisdiction thereof.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification Undesignated pars. 1 to 4 of this section are from sections 1 to 4, respectively, of act July 9, 1918, popularly known as the “Army Appropriation Act of 1919”. Undesignated pars. 1 and 2 of this section superseded similar provisions of act Aug. 8, 1917, ch. 49, § 8, 40 Stat. 266.

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 Department of the Army under administrative supervision of Secretary of the Army. Coast Artillery changed to Artillery under authority of section 306(a) of act

June 28, 1950, ch. 383, title III, 64 Stat. 269. section 306(a) of act

June 28, 1950 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 section 3063 continued the Artillery as a basic branch of the Army.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

For transfer of certain functions insofar as they pertain to Air Force, and to extent that they were not previously transferred to Secretary of the Air Force and Department of the Air Force from Secretary of the Army and Department of the Army, see Secretary of Defense Transfer Order No. 40 [App. A(55)], July 22, 1949.

§3 Regulations to prevent injuries from target practice