§1983 — Title 42 The Public Health and Welfare | U.S. Code

Summary

You can sue someone who, while using state, territorial, or D.C. power or usual practices, takes away your rights protected by the Constitution or federal law. The person can be held responsible in court and you can ask for money or other court relief. You normally cannot get an injunction (a court order to stop or force action) against a judge for things done in a judge’s official role, unless a court’s declaratory order was broken or a declaratory remedy was not available. A federal law that applies only to the District of Columbia counts as a D.C. law for this rule.

Title 42, §1983

The Public Health and Welfare — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity, or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the District of Columbia.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Codification R.S. § 1979 derived from act Apr. 20, 1871, ch. 22, § 1, 17 Stat. 13. Section was formerly classified to section 43 of Title 8, Aliens and Nationality.

Amendments

1996—Pub. L. 104–317 inserted before period at end of first sentence “, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable”. 1979—Pub. L. 96–170 inserted “or the District of Columbia” after “Territory”, and provisions relating to Acts of Congress applicable solely to the District of Columbia.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1979 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 96–170 applicable with respect to any deprivation of rights, privileges, or immunities secured by the Constitution and laws occurring after Dec. 29, 1979, see section 3 of Pub. L. 96–170, set out as a note under section 1343 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.

§1983 Civil Action for Deprivation of Rights