18 U.S.C. § 10 (2024)

This is the official text of 18 U.S.C. § 10 (2024), part of Federal (US Code)’s United States Code — the codified general and permanent federal statutes of the United States, organized into more than 50 numbered titles by subject.

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Interstate commerce and foreign commerce defined

Official statutory text

The term "interstate commerce", as used in this title, includes commerce between one State, Territory, Possession, or the District of Columbia and another State, Territory, Possession, or the District of Columbia.

The term "foreign commerce", as used in this title, includes commerce with a foreign country.

(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 686.)

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§408, 408b, 414(a), and 419a(b) (Oct. 29, 1919, ch. 89, §2(b), 41 Stat. 325; June 22, 1932, ch. 271, §2, 47 Stat. 326; May 18, 1934, ch. 301, 48 Stat. 782; May 22, 1934, ch. 333, §2(a), 48 Stat. 794; Aug. 18, 1941, ch. 366, §2(b), 55 Stat. 631).

This section consolidates into one section identical definitions contained in sections 408, 408b, 414(a), and 419a(b) of title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed.

In addition to slight improvements in style, the word "commerce" was substituted for "transportation" in order to avoid the narrower connotation of the word "transportation" since "commerce" obviously includes more than "transportation." The word "Possession" was inserted in two places to make the definition more accurate and comprehensive since the places included in the word "Possession" would normally be within the term defined and a narrower construction should be handled by express statutory exclusion in those crimes which Congress intends to restrict to commerce within the continental United States.

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.