---
kind: "section"
citation: "40 U.S.C. § 8121"
title: "40"
title_heading: "Public Buildings, Property, and Works"
number: "8121"
heading: "Improper appropriation of streets"
release: "119-102"
date: "2026-07-12"
url: "https://uscodex.org/usc/40/8121"
units:
  - "Subtitle II — Public Buildings and Works"
  - "Part D — Public Buildings, Grounds, and Parks in the District of Columbia"
  - "Chapter 81 — Administrative"
  - "Subchapter II — Jurisdiction"
---

# §8121. Improper appropriation of streets

- (a) **Authority.—** The Secretary of the Interior shall—
  - (1) prevent the improper appropriation or occupation of any public street, avenue, square, or reservation in the District of Columbia that belongs to the [Federal Government](/usc/40/3701.md?p=a);
  - (2) reclaim the street, avenue, square, or reservation if unlawfully appropriated;
  - (3) prevent the erection of any permanent building on [property](/usc/40/102.md?p=9) reserved to or for the use of the Government, unless plainly authorized by law; and
  - (4) report to Congress at the beginning of each session on the Secretary’s proceedings in the premises, together with a full statement of all [property](/usc/40/102.md?p=9) described in this subsection, and how, and by what authority, the [property](/usc/40/102.md?p=9) is occupied or claimed.
- (b) **Application.—** This section does not interfere with the temporary and proper occupation of any part of the [property](/usc/40/102.md?p=9) described in [subsection (a)](#a), by lawful authority, for the legitimate purposes of the Government.

## Source credit

(Pub. L. 107–217, Aug. 21, 2002, 116 Stat. 1206.)

## Notes

| Historical and Revision Notes |  |  |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Revised<br>Section | Source (U.S. Code) | Source (Statutes at Large) |
| 8121 | 40:66. | R.S. § 1818. |

In subsection (a)(1), the words “the District of Columbia” are substituted for “the city of Washington” for consistency in the revised title and with other titles of the United States Code.

In subsection (a)(3), the word “particularly” is omitted as unnecessary.