---
kind: "section"
citation: "10 U.S.C. § 8169"
title: "10"
title_heading: "Armed Forces"
number: "8169"
heading: "Policy as to leave and liberty"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/10/8169"
units:
  - "Subtitle C — Navy and Marine Corps"
  - "Part II — Personnel"
  - "Chapter 821 — Officers in Command"
---

# §8169. Policy as to leave and liberty


The commanding [officer](/usc/10/8001.md?p=a-5) of a vessel shall favor the faithful and obedient in granting leave and liberty.


## Source credit

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 372, § 5949; renumbered § 8169, Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VIII, § 807(b)(5), Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1834.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 5949 | 34 U.S.C. 220. | R.S. 1431. |

The words “to exercise carefully a discrimination in” are omitted as surplusage. The words “leave and liberty” are substituted for “temporary leave of absence and liberty on shore” to conform to modern terminology.

### Editorial Notes

### Amendments

2018—Pub. L. 115–232 renumbered section 5949 of this title as this section.

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date of 2018 Amendment

Amendment by Pub. L. 115–232 effective Feb. 1, 2019, with provision for the coordination of amendments and special rule for certain redesignations, see section 800 of Pub. L. 115–232, set out as a note preceding section 3001 of this title.