---
kind: "section"
citation: "28 U.S.C. § 1390"
title: "28"
title_heading: "Judiciary and Judicial Procedure"
number: "1390"
heading: "Scope"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/28/1390"
units:
  - "Part IV — Jurisdiction and Venue"
  - "Chapter 87 — District Courts; Venue"
---

# §1390. Scope

- (a) **Venue Defined.—** As used in this chapter, the term “venue” refers to the geographic specification of the proper court or courts for the litigation of a civil action that is within the subject-matter jurisdiction of the district courts in general, and does not refer to any grant or restriction of subject-matter jurisdiction providing for a civil action to be adjudicated only by the district court for a particular district or districts.
- (b) **Exclusion of Certain Cases.—** Except as otherwise provided by law, this chapter shall not govern the venue of a civil action in which the district court exercises the jurisdiction conferred by [section 1333](/usc/28/1333.md), except that such civil actions may be transferred between district courts as provided in this chapter.
- (c) **Clarification Regarding Cases Removed From State Courts.—** This chapter shall not determine the district court to which a civil action pending in a [State court](/usc/28/1451.md?p=1) may be removed, but shall govern the transfer of an action so removed as between districts and divisions of the United States district courts.

## Source credit

(Added Pub. L. 112–63, title II, § 201(a), Dec. 7, 2011, 125 Stat. 762.)

## Notes

### Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

### Effective Date

Pub. L. 112–63, title II, § 205, Dec. 7, 2011, 125 Stat. 764, provided that: “The amendments made by this title [enacting this section, amending sections 1391 and 1404 of this title, and repealing section 1392 of this title]— shall take effect upon the expiration of the 30-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act [Dec. 7, 2011]; and shall apply to— any action that is commenced in a United States district court on or after such effective date; and any action that is removed from a State court to a United States district court and that had been commenced, within the meaning of State law, on or after such effective date.”