42 U.S.C. § 88 (2024)

This is the official text of 42 U.S.C. § 88 (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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Discharge of cargo of vessel in quarantine

Official statutory text

Whenever, by the health laws of any State, or by the regulations made pursuant thereto, any vessel arriving within a collection district of such State is prohibited from coming to the port of entry by law established for such district, and such health laws require or permit the cargo of the vessel to be unladen at some other place within or near to such district, the collector, after due report to him of the whole of such cargo, may grant his warrant or permit for the unlading and discharge thereof, under the care of the surveyor, or of one or more inspectors, at some other place where such health laws permit, and upon the conditions and restrictions which shall be directed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services, or which such collector may, for the time, deem expedient for the security of the public revenue.

(R.S. §4793; 1939 Reorg. Plan No. I, §201, eff. July 1, 1939, 4 F.R. 2728, 53 Stat. 1424; 1953 Reorg. Plan No. 1, §§5, 8, eff. Apr. 11, 1953, 18 F.R. 2053, 67 Stat. 631; Pub. L. 96–88, title V, §509(b), Oct. 17, 1979, 93 Stat. 695.)

Editorial Notes

Codification

Words "or delivery" after "port of entry" which were included in this section as originally enacted were omitted as ports of delivery were abolished pursuant to the President's Message to Congress on Mar. 3, 1913, set out in Codification note under section 1 of Title 19, Customs Duties.

R.S. §4793 derived from act Feb. 23, 1799, ch. 12, §2, 1 Stat. 619.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

"Secretary of Health and Human Services" substituted in text for "Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare" pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96–88, which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions
s Duties.

R.S. §4793 derived from act Feb. 23, 1799, ch. 12, §2, 1 Stat. 619.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Change of Name

"Secretary of Health and Human Services" substituted in text for "Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare" pursuant to section 509(b) of Pub. L. 96–88, which is classified to section 3508(b) of Title 20, Education.

Executive Documents

Transfer of Functions

Functions of Federal Security Administrator transferred to Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare and all agencies of Federal Security Agency transferred to Department of Health, Education, and Welfare by section 5 of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1953, set out as a note under section 3501 of this title. Federal Security Agency and office of Administrator abolished by section 8 of Reorg. Plan No. 1 of 1953.

Functions of Department of the Treasury relating to public health transferred to Federal Security Agency pursuant to Reorg. Plan No. I of 1939, set out in the Appendix to Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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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.