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Title 54 — National Park Service and Related ProgramsRelease 119-73not60

§103304 Recovery of Land Withheld

Title 54 › Subtitle Subtitle I— National Park System › Chapter 1033— NATIONAL MILITARY PARKS › § 103304

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

The United States can sue in federal court to get back land inside a national military park when someone won’t leave after a lease ends and the park superintendent asks them to, or when someone sold park land to the United States, was paid, but still occupies it after being asked to give it up. The lawsuit must follow the state’s legal rules where the park is located. Anyone who keeps the land in these situations is guilty of trespass.

Full Legal Text

Title 54, §103304

National Park Service and Related Programs — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)The United States may bring a civil action in the courts of the United States against a person to whom land lying within a national military park has been leased that refuses to give up possession of the land to the United States after the termination of the lease, and after possession has been demanded for the United States by the park superintendent, or against a person retaining possession of land lying within the boundary of a national military park that the person has sold to the United States for park purposes and received payment therefor, after possession of the land has been demanded for the United States by the park superintendent, to recover possession of the land withheld. The civil action shall be brought according to the statutes of the State in which the national military park is situated.
(b)A person described in subsection (a) shall be guilty of trespass.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Revised SectionSource (U.S. Code)Source (Statutes at Large) 10330416 U.S.C. 416.Mar. 3, 1897, ch. 372, §§ 4, 5, 29 Stat. 622. In subsection (a) the words “any park commissioner” are omitted as obsolete. See section 103303 of the new title. The words “or code of practice” are omitted as obsolete because of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (28 U.S.C. App.).

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

54 U.S.C. § 103304

Title 54 — National Park Service and Related Programs

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60