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Northwestern Coalition of Land Owners

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 21 > SUB CHAPTER I > § 1983

§ 1983. Civil action for deprivation of rights

Every person who, under color of any statute, ordinance, regulation, custom, or usage, of any State or
Territory or the District of Columbia, subjects, or causes to be subjected, any citizen of the United States or
other person within the jurisdiction thereof to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities
secured by the Constitution and laws, shall be liable to the party injured in an action at law, suit in equity,
or other proper proceeding for redress, except that in any action brought against a judicial officer for an
act or omission taken in such officer’s judicial capacity, injunctive relief shall not be granted unless a
declaratory decree was violated or declaratory relief was unavailable. For the purposes of this section, any
Act of Congress applicable exclusively to the District of Columbia shall be considered to be a statute of the
District of Columbia.

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 21 > SUB CHAPTER I > § 1985

§ 1985. Conspiracy to interfere with civil rights

(1) Preventing officer from performing duties

If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any
person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from
discharging any duties thereof; or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave any
State, district, or place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in his
person or property on account of his lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or while engaged in the
lawful discharge thereof, or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the
discharge of his official duties;

(2) Obstructing justice; intimidating party, witness, or juror

If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire to deter, by force, intimidation, or threat, any party
or witness in any court of the United States from attending such court, or from testifying to any matter
pending therein, freely, fully, and truthfully, or to injure such party or witness in his person or property on
account of his having so attended or testified, or to influence the verdict, presentment, or indictment of
any grand or petit juror in any such court, or to injure such juror in his person or property on account of
any verdict, presentment, or indictment lawfully assented to by him, or of his being or having been such
juror; or if two or more persons conspire for the purpose of impeding, hindering, obstructing, or defeating,
in any manner, the due course of justice in any State or Territory, with intent to deny to any citizen the
equal protection of the laws, or to injure him or his property for lawfully enforcing, or attempting to
enforce, the right of any person, or class of persons, to the equal protection of the laws;

(3) Depriving persons of rights or privileges

If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire or go in disguise on the highway or on the
premises of another, for the purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of
persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges and immunities under the laws; or for
the purpose of preventing or hindering the constituted authorities of any State or Territory from giving or
securing to all persons within such State or Territory the equal protection of the laws; or if two or more
persons conspire to prevent by force, intimidation, or threat, any citizen who is lawfully entitled to vote,
from giving his support or advocacy in a legal manner, toward or in favor of the election of any lawfully
qualified person as an elector for President or Vice President, or as a Member of Congress of the United
States; or to injure any citizen in person or property on account of such support or advocacy; in any case
of conspiracy set forth in this section, if one or more persons engaged therein do, or cause to be done,
any act in furtherance of the object of such conspiracy, whereby another is injured in his person or
property, or deprived of having and exercising any right or privilege of a citizen of the United States, the
party so injured or deprived may have an action for the recovery of damages occasioned by such injury or
deprivation, against any one or more of the conspirators.

TITLE 42 > CHAPTER 21 > SUB CHAPTER I > § 1986

§ 1986. Action for neglect to prevent

Every person who, having knowledge that any of the wrongs conspired to be done, and mentioned in
section 1985 of this title, are about to be committed, and having power to prevent or aid in preventing the
commission of the same, neglects or refuses so to do, if such wrongful act be committed, shall be liable to
the party injured, or his legal representatives, for all damages caused by such wrongful act, which such
person by reasonable diligence could have prevented; and such damages may be recovered in an action
on the case; and any number of persons guilty of such wrongful neglect or refusal may be joined as
defendants in the action; and if the death of any party be caused by any such wrongful act and neglect, the
legal representatives of the deceased shall have such action therefor, and may recover not exceeding
$5,000 damages therein, for the benefit of the widow of the deceased, if there be one, and if there be no
widow, then for the benefit of the next of kin of the deceased. But no action under the provisions of this
section shall be sustained which is not commenced within one year after the cause of action has accrued.