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Federal Laws

United States Code

The United States Code contains a consolidation and codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States arranged according to subject matter under 50 title headings, largely in alphabetical order. It sets out the current status of the laws, as amended, without repeating all the language of the amendatory acts except where necessary. The U.S. Code is declared to be prima facie evidence of those laws. Its purpose is to present the laws in a concise and usable form without requiring recourse to the many volumes of the Statutes at Large containing the individual amendments.

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Subtitle II - Vessels and Seamen of Title 46

Shipping is a codification of the majority of the maritime safety and seamen protection laws that are administered by the Coast Guard. The parts of Subtitle II of Title 46 of the U.S. Code pertinent to Recreational Boating Safety are:

PART A - GENERAL PROVISIONS

Chapter 21 - General
Chapter 23 - Operation of Vessels Generally

PART B - INSPECTION AND REGULATION OF VESSELS

Chapter 41 - Uninspected Vessels Generally
Chapter 43 - Recreational Vessels

PART D - MARINE CASUALTIES

Chapter 61 - Reporting Marine Casualties
Chapter 63 - Investigating Marine Casualties

PART H - IDENTIFICATION OF VESSELS

Chapter 121 - Documentation of Vessels
Chapter 123 - Numbering Undocumented Vessels
Chapter 125 - Vessel Identification System

PART I - STATE BOATING SAFETY PROGRAMS

Chapter 131 - Recreational boating safety

PART J - MEASUREMENT OF VESSELS

Chapter 141 - General
Chapter 143 - Convention measurement
Chapter 145 - Regulatory measurement

Chapter 147 - Penalties