50 U.S.C. § 4303 — Acts prohibited

Page 1056 TITLE 50—WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE § 4303 at war, or any political or municipal subdivision of such ally nation, or any officer, official, agent, or agency thereof. (c) Such other individuals, or body or class of individuals, as may be natives, citizens, or sub- jects of any nation which is an ally of a nation with which the United States is at war, other than citizens of the United States, wherever resident or wherever doing business, as the President, if he shall find the safety of the United States or the successful prosecution of the war shall so require, may, by proclamation, include within the term ‘‘ally of enemy.’’ The word ‘‘person,’’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean an individual, partnership, as- sociation, company, or other unincorporated body of individuals, or corporation or body poli- tic. The words ‘‘United States,’’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean all land and water, con- tinental or insular, in any way within the juris- diction of the United States or occupied by the military or naval forces thereof. The words ‘‘the beginning of the war,’’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean midnight end- ing the day on which Congress has declared or shall declare war or the existence of a state of war. The words ‘‘end of the war,’’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean the date of proclama- tion of exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace, unless the President shall, by proclama- tion, declare a prior date, in which case the date so proclaimed shall be deemed to be the ‘‘end of the war’’ within the meaning of this chapter. The words ‘‘bank or banks,’’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean and include national banks, State banks, trust companies, or other banks or banking associations doing business under the laws of the United States, or of any State of the United States. The words ‘‘to trade,’’ as used herein, shall be deemed to mean— (a) Pay, satisfy, compromise, or give security for the payment or satisfaction of any debt or obligation. (b) Draw, accept, pay, present for acceptance or payment, or indorse any negotiable instru- ment or chose in action. (c) Enter into, carry on, complete, or perform any contract, agreement, or obligation. (d) Buy or sell, loan or extend credit, trade in, deal with, exchange, transmit, transfer, assign, or otherwise dispose of, or receive any form of property. (e) To have any form of business or commer- cial communication or intercourse with. (Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, § 2, 40 Stat. 411.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in text, was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, meaning act Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, 40 Stat. 411, known as the Trading with the enemy Act, also known as the Trading with the Enemy Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 4301 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 2 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassi- fication and renumbering as this section. Executive Documents WORLD WAR I PROCLAMATIONS ENUMERATING ENEMIES The following Presidential Proclamations issued dur- ing World War I declared the partnerships and persons enumerated therein to be ‘‘enemies’’: Proc. Feb. 5, 1918, 40 Stat. 1745. Proc. May 31, 1918, 40 Stat. 1786. Proc. Aug. 10, 1918, 40 Stat. 1833. Proc. Aug. 14, 1918, 40 Stat. 1837. Proc. Nov. 29, 1918, 40 Stat. 1899. § 4303. Acts prohibited It shall be unlawful— (a) For any person in the United States, except with the license of the President, granted to such person, or to the enemy, or ally of enemy, as provided in this chapter, to trade, or attempt to trade, either directly or indirectly, with, to, or from, or for, or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, any other person, with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that such other person is an enemy or ally of enemy, or is conducting or taking part in such trade, di- rectly or indirectly, for, or on account of, or on behalf of, or for the benefit of, an enemy or ally of enemy. (b) For any person, except with the license of the President, to transport or attempt to trans- port into or from the United States, or for any owner, master, or other person in charge of a vessel of American registry to transport or at- tempt to transport from any place to any other place, any subject or citizen of an enemy or ally of enemy nation, with knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that the person transported or attempted to be transported is such subject or citizen. (c) For any person (other than a person in the service of the United States Government or of the Government of any nation, except that of an enemy or ally of enemy nation, and other than such persons or classes of persons as may be ex- empted hereunder by the President or by such person as he may direct), to send, or take out of, or bring into, or attempt to send, or take out of, or bring into the United States, any letter or other writing or tangible form of communica- tion, except in the regular course of the mail; and it shall be unlawful for any person to send, take, or transmit, or attempt to send, take, or transmit out of the United States, any letter or other writing, book, map, plan, or other paper, picture, or any telegram, cablegram, or wireless message, or other form of communication in- tended for or to be delivered, directly or indi- rectly, to an enemy or ally of enemy: Provided, however, That any person may send, take, or transmit out of the United States anything herein forbidden if he shall first submit the same to the President, or to such officer as the President may direct, and shall obtain the li- cense or consent of the President, under such rules and regulations, and with such exemp- tions, as shall be prescribed by the President. (d) Whenever, during the present war, the President shall deem that the public safety de- mands it, he may cause to be censored under such rules and regulations as he may from time to time establish, communications by mail, cable, radio, or other means of transmission passing between the United States and any for- Page 1057 TITLE 50—WAR AND NATIONAL DEFENSE § 4304 eign country he may from time to time specify, or which may be carried by any vessel or other means of transportation touching at any port, place, or territory of the United States and bound to or from any foreign country. Any per- son who willfully evades or attempts to evade the submission of any such communication to such censorship or willfully uses or attempts to use any code or other device for the purpose of concealing from such censorship the intended meaning of such communication shall be pun- ished as provided in section 4315 of this title. (Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, § 3, 40 Stat. 412.) Editorial Notes REFERENCES IN TEXT This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a), was in the original ‘‘this Act’’, meaning act Oct. 6, 1917, ch. 106, 40 Stat. 411, known as the Trading with the enemy Act, also known as the Trading with the Enemy Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 4301 of this title and Tables. CODIFICATION Section was formerly classified to section 3 of the former Appendix to this title prior to editorial reclassi- fication and renumbering as this section. Executive Documents DELEGATION OF FUNCTIONS President’s powers under subsec. (a) of this section delegated during World War II to Secretary of the Treasury by Memorandum of the President dated Feb. 12, 1942, 7 F.R. 1409, and to Alien Property Custodian by Ex. Ord. No. 9095, Mar. 11, 1942, 7 F.R. 1971. Office of World War II Alien Property Custodian ter- minated and powers, duties, and functions vested in or transferred or delegated to such Office or in the Alien Property Custodian transferred to Attorney General, see Ex. Ord. No. 9788, set out under section 4306 of this title. § 4304. Licenses to enemy or ally of enemy insur- ance or reinsurance companies; change of name; doing business in United States (a) Every enemy or ally of enemy insurance or reinsurance company, and every enemy or ally of enemy, doing business within the United States through an agency or branch office, or otherwise, may within thirty days after October 6, 1917, apply to the President for a license to continue to do business; and, within thirty days after such application, the President may enter an order either granting or refusing to grant such license. The license, if granted, may be temporary or otherwise, and for such period of time, and may contain such provisions and con- ditions regulating the business, agencies, man- agers and trustees and the control and disposi- tion of the funds of the company, or of such enemy or ally of enemy, as the President shall deem necessary for the safety of the United States; and any license granted hereunder may be revoked or regranted or renewed in such man- ner and at such times as the President shall de- termine: Provided, however, That reasonable no- tice of his intent to refuse to grant a license or to revoke a license granted to any reinsurance company shall be given by him to all insurance companies incorporated within the United States and known to the President to be doing business with such reinsurance company: Pro- vided further, That no insurance company, orga- nized within the United States, shall be obli- gated to continue any existing contract, entered into prior to the beginning of the war, with any enemy or ally of enemy insurance or reinsur- ance company, but any such company may abro- gate and cancel any such contract by serving thirty days’ notice in writing upon the Presi- dent of its election to abrogate such contract. For a period of thirty days after October 6, 1917, and further pending the entry of such order by the President, after application made by any enemy or ally of enemy insurance or reinsur- ance company, within such thirty days as above provided, the provisions of the President’s proc- lamation of April sixth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, relative to agencies in the United States of certain insurance companies, as modi- fied by the provisions of the President’s procla- mation of July thirteenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, relative to marine and war-risk in- surance, shall remain in full force and effect so far as it applies to such German insurance com- panies, and the conditions of said proclamation of April sixth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, as modified by said proclamation of July thir- teenth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, shall also during said period of thirty days after Octo- ber 6, 1917, and pending the order of the Presi- dent as herein provided, apply to any enemy or ally of enemy insurance or reinsurance com- pany, anything in this chapter to the contrary notwithstanding. It shall be unlawful for any enemy or ally of enemy insurance or reinsur- ance company, to whom license is granted, to transmit out of the United States any funds be- longing to or held for the benefit of such com- pany or to use any such funds as the basis for the establishment directly or indirectly of any credit within or outside of the United States to, or for the benefit of, or on behalf of, or on ac- count of, an enemy or ally of enemy. For a period of thirty days after October 6, 1917, and further pending the entry of such order by the President, after application made within such thirty days by any enemy or ally of enemy, other than an insurance or reinsurance company as above provided, it shall be lawful for such enemy or ally of enemy to continue to do busi- ness in this country and for any person to trade with, to, from, for, on account of, on behalf of or for the benefit of such enemy or ally of enemy, anything in this chapter to the contrary not- withstanding: Provided, however, That the provi- sions of sections 4303 and 4315 of this title shall apply to any act or attempted act of trans- mission or transfer of money or other property out of the United States and to the use or at- tempted use of such money or property as the basis for the establishment of any credit within or outside of the United States to, or for the benefit of, or on behalf of, or on account of, an enemy or ally of enemy. If no license is applied for within thirty days after October 6, 1917, or if a license shall be re- fused to any enemy or ally of enemy, whether insurance or reinsurance company, or other per- son, making application, or if any license grant- ed shall be revoked by the President, the provi-