Title 18, Crimes and Criminal ProcedureRelease 119-102
§336 Issuance of Circulating Obligations of Less Than $1
Title 18 › PART I — CRIMES › CHAPTER 17 — COINS AND CURRENCY › § 336
Summary
Making, issuing, using, or paying with notes, checks, tokens, or other items meant to act like U.S. money but worth less than $1 is a federal crime. A person can be fined under federal law, jailed for up to six months, or both.
Full Legal Text
Title 18, §336
Crimes and Criminal Procedure, Source: USLM XML via OLRC
Whoever makes, issues, circulates, or pays out any note, check, memorandum, token, or other obligation for a less sum than $1, intended to circulate as money or to be received or used in lieu of lawful money of the United States, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 293 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, § 178, 35 Stat. 1122). Numerous suggestions, of which that of Mr. E. M. Million, of Arlington, Va., is typical, recommend that this section be omitted as obsolete or revised to except commercial obligations. However, since the decisions make it plain that only obligations intended to circulate as money are within the provisions of this section and that commercial checks of less than $1 are not affected, there seems no reason so to rewrite the section. (See U.S. v. Monongahela Bridge Co., Fed. Cas. No. 15,796; Stettinius v. U.S., Fed. Cas. No. 13,387.) Minor changes were made in phraseology.
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $500”.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
18 U.S.C. § 336
Title 18, Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Last Updated
Aug 21, 2026
Release point: 119-102