33 U.S.C. § 410: Exception as to floating…

Summary

Allows loose timber, logs, and "sack rafts" to be floated on U.S. navigable rivers or parts of rivers where floating logs is the main way people travel. That activity must follow rules made and changed by the Secretary of the Army. The Secretary must make rules that fairly balance different ways of using the water. The rules and any changes must be printed at least once in newspapers the Secretary picks so people nearby are notified. Once published, those rules are law. Breaking them is a misdemeanor. A violator can be fined between $500 and $2,500. An individual (not a company) can also be jailed from 30 days to 1 year, or get both fine and jail. Enforcement can be started in federal courts, and Congress may change or repeal this at any time.

Title 33, §410

Navigation and Navigable Waters, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

The prohibition contained in section 409 of this title against floating loose timber and logs, or sack rafts, so called, of timber and logs in streams or channels actually navigated by steamboats, shall not apply to any navigable river or waterway of the United States or any part thereof whereon the floating of loose timber and logs and sack rafts of timber and logs is the principal method of navigation. But such method of navigation on such river or waterway or part thereof shall be subject to the rules and regulations prescribed by the Secretary of the Army as provided in this section. The Secretary of the Army shall have power, and he is authorized and directed to prescribe rules and regulations, which he may at any time modify, to govern and regulate the floating of loose timber and logs, and sack rafts, (so called) of timber and logs and other methods of navigation on the streams and waterways, or any thereof, of the character, as to navigation, heretofore in this section described. The said rules and regulations shall be so framed as to equitably adjust conflicting interests between the different methods or forms of navigation; and the said rules and regulations shall be published at least once in such newspaper or newspapers of general circulation as in the opinion of the Secretary of the Army shall be best adapted to give notice of said rules and regulations to persons affected thereby and locally interested therein. And all modifications of said rules and regulations shall be similarly published. And such rules and regulations when so prescribed and published as to any such stream or waterway shall have the force of law, and any violation thereof shall be a misdemeanor, and every person convicted of such violation shall be punished by a fine of not exceeding $2,500 nor less than $500, or by imprisonment (in case of a natural person) for not less than thirty days nor more than one year, or by both such fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court: Provided, That the proper action to enforce the provisions of this section may be commenced before any magistrate judge, judge, or court of the United States, and such magistrate judge, judge, or court shall proceed in respect thereto as authorized by law in the case of crimes or misdemeanors committed against the United States. The right to alter, amend, or repeal this section at any time is reserved.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

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. “Magistrate judge” substituted in text for “magistrate” pursuant to section 321 of Pub. L. 101–650, set out as a note under section 631 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure. Previously, “magistrate” was substituted for “commissioner” pursuant to Pub. L. 90–578. See chapter 43 (§ 631 et seq.) of Title 28.

Transfer of Functions

Functions, powers, and duties of Secretary of the Army and other offices and officers of Department of the Army under section 401 of this title to extent that they relate generally to location and clearances of bridges and causeways in navigable waters of United States transferred to and vested in Secretary of Transportation by Pub. L. 89–670, § 6(g)(6)(A), Oct. 15, 1966, 80 Stat. 941, which created Department of Transportation. Pub. L. 97–449 amended section 401 of this title to reflect transfer made by section 6(g)(6)(A) of Pub. L. 89–670, and repealed section 6(g)(6)(A).

§410 Exception as to Floating Loose Timber, Sack Rafts, Etc.; Violation of Regulations; Penalty