§ 1154. — Intoxicants dispensed in Indian country.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 18USC1154]
TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I--CRIMES
CHAPTER 53--INDIANS
Sec. 1154. Intoxicants dispensed in Indian country
(a) Whoever sells, gives away, disposes of, exchanges, or barters
any malt, spirituous, or vinous liquor, including beer, ale, and wine,
or any ardent or other intoxicating liquor of any kind whatsoever,
except for scientific, sacramental, medicinal or mechanical purposes, or
any essence, extract, bitters, preparation, compound, composition, or
any article whatsoever, under any name, label, or brand, which produces
intoxication, to any Indian to whom an allotment of land has been made
while the title to the same shall be held in trust by the Government, or
to any Indian who is a ward of the Government under charge of any Indian
superintendent, or to any Indian, including mixed bloods, over whom the
Government, through its departments, exercises guardianship, and whoever
introduces or attempts to introduce any malt, spirituous, or vinous
liquor, including beer, ale, and wine, or any ardent or intoxicating
liquor of any kind whatsoever into the Indian country, shall, for the
first offense, be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one
year, or both; and, for each subsequent offense, be fined under this
title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
(b) It shall be a sufficient defense to any charge of introducing or
attempting to introduce ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine, or intoxicating
liquors into the Indian country that the acts charged were done under
authority, in writing, from the Department of the Army or any officer
duly authorized thereunto by the Department of the Army, but this
subsection shall not bar the prosecution of any officer, soldier, sutler
or storekeeper, attache, or employee of the Army of the United States
who barters, donates, or furnishes in any manner whatsoever liquors,
beer, or any intoxicating beverage whatsoever to any Indian.
(c) The term ``Indian country'' as used in this section does not
include fee-patented lands in non-Indian communities or rights-of-way
through Indian reservations, and this section does not apply to such
lands or rights-of-way in the absence of a treaty or statute extending
the Indian liquor laws thereto.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 758; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, Sec. 27,
63 Stat. 94; Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII, Sec. 330016(1)(G), (I),
Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
Historical and Revision Notes
1948 Act
Based on sections 241, 242, 244a, 249, 254 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940
ed., Indians (R.S. Sec. 2139; Feb. 27, 1877, ch. 69, Sec. 1, 19 Stat.
244; July 4, 1884, ch. 180, Sec. 1, 23 Stat. 94; July 23, 1892, ch. 234,
27 Stat. 260; Mar. 2, 1917, ch. 146, Sec. 17, 39 Stat. 983; June 13,
1932, ch. 245, 47 Stat. 302; Mar. 5, 1934, ch. 43, 48 Stat. 396; June
27, 1934, ch. 846, 48 Stat. 1245; June 15, 1938, ch. 435, Sec. 1, 52
Stat. 696).
Section consolidates sections 241, 242, 244a, and 249 of title 25,
U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians. The portion of section 241 of said title
which defined the substantive offense became subsection (a); the portion
relating to the scope of the term ``Indian country'' was omitted as
unnecessary in view of definition of ``Indian country'' in section 1151
of this title; the portion of section 241 of said title excepting
liquors introduced by the War Department became subsection (c), as
limited by section 249 of said title; the portion respecting making
complaint in county of offense, and with reference to arraignment, was
omitted as covered by rule 5 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure;
and the remainder of section 241 of said title was incorporated in
section 1156 of this title.
Section 254 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians, was omitted as
covered by this section and section 1156 of this title. That section was
enacted in 1934 and excluded from the Indian liquor laws lands outside
reservations where the land was no longer held by Indians under a trust
patent or a deed or patent containing restrictions against alienation.
Such enactment was prior to the June 15, 1938, amendment of section 241
of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians, in which the term ``Indian
country'' was defined as including allotments where the title was held
in trust by the Government or where it was inalienable without the
consent of the United States. This provision, by implication, excluded
cases where there was no trust or restriction on alienation and thereby
achieved the same result as section 254 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed.,
Indians. That amendment also repealed the act of Jan. 30, 1897, referred
to in section 254 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians. Insofar as the
reference in section 254 of said title to ``special Indian liquor laws''
included section 244 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians, the
definition of Indian country in section 1151 of this title covers
section 254 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians.
Words ``or agent'' were deleted as there have been no Indian agents
since 1908. See section 64 of title 25, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Indians, and
note thereunder.
Mandatory punishment provisions were rephrased in the alternative
and provision for commitment for nonpayment of fine was deleted. This
change was also recommended by United States District Judge T. Blake
Kennedy on the ground that, otherwise, section would be practically
meaningless since, in most cases, offenders cannot pay a fine.
The exception of intoxicating liquor for scientific, sacramental,
medicinal or mechanical purposes was inserted for the same reason that
makes this exception appropriate to section 1262 of this title.
Minor changes were made in phraseology.
1949 Act
Subsection (a) of this section [section 27(a)] substitutes
``Department of the Army'' for ``War Department'', in subsection (b) of
section 1154 of title 18, U.S.C., to conform to such redesignation by
act July 26, 1947 (ch. 343, title 11, Sec. 205(a), 61 Stat. 501 (5
U.S.C., 1946 ed., Sec. 181-1)). Subsection (b) of this section [section
27(b)] adds subsection (c) to such section 1154 in order to conform it
and section 1156 more closely to the laws relating to intoxicating
liquor in the Indian country as they have heretofore been construed.
Amendments
1994--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 103-322 substituted ``fined under this
title'' for ``fined not more than $500'' after ``first offense, be'' and
for ``fined not more than $2,000'' after ``subsequent offense, be''.
1949--Subsec. (b). Act May 24, 1949, Sec. 27(a), substituted
``Department of the Army'' for ``War Department''.
Subsec. (c). Act May 24, 1949, Sec. 27(b), added subsec. (c).
Transfer of Functions
Functions of all other officers of Department of the Interior and
functions of all agencies and employees of such Department, with two
exceptions, transferred to Secretary of the Interior, with power vested
in him to authorize their performance or performance of any of his
functions by any of such officers, agencies, and employees, by Reorg.
Plan No. 3 of 1950, Secs. 1, 2, eff. May 24, 1950, 15 F.R. 3174, 64
Stat. 1262, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization
and Employees.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 1151, 1161, 3113 of this
title; title 25 section 1725.
