52. The postage on returned dead letters, not registered as valuable, shall be three 3 March 1863 2 29. cents for the single rate; on returned dead letters, registered as valuable, double rates shall be charged. Rate on returned 53. All letters directed to any person not found at the office addressed may be forwarded to any other office where he may be found, with additional charge of postage Forwarding of therefor. 54. The postmaster-general shall have authority to pay, or cause to be paid, a sum not exceeding two cents each for all letters conveyed in any vessel or steamboat, not employed in carrying the mail, from one port or place to any other port or place in the United States, or from any foreign port to any port within the United States, subject to such regulations as the postmaster-general may prescribe, but all such letters shall be deposited in the post office at the port of arrival, for mailing or delivery; and if for delivery within the United States, shall be rated with double rates of postage, which shall cover the fee paid to the vessel; no fees shall be allowed for letters collected by a carrier on a mail route. letters. Ibid. 31. Ship letters, &c. Ibid. 32. 55. For the greater security of valuable letters posted for transmission in the mails of the United States, the postmaster-general is authorized to establish a uniform plan Registration of for the registration of such letters on application of parties posting the same, and to letters. require the payment of the postage, as well as a registration fee not exceeding twenty cents on every such letter or packet, to be accounted for by postmasters receiving the same in such manner as the postmaster-general shall direct: Provided, however, That such registration shall not be compulsory, and it shall not render the post office department or its revenue liable for the loss of such letters or packets, or the contents thereof; and provision shall be made by regulation for a return receipt to the writer, showing to whom and when such registered letter was delivered, which receipt shall be received in the courts as prima facie evidence of such delivery. Ibid. 56. The maximum standard weight for the single rate of postage on matter classed as printed matter, and also on that classed as miscellaneous matter, is four ounces avoir- Single rate for dupois, subject to the exception in the next following section provided. printed matter. Ibid. 34. 57. The rate of postage on transient mailable matter of the second class, and also on all miscellaneous mailable matter of the third class (except circulars and books), shall Transient matbe two cents for each four ounces or fraction thereof contained in any one package to ter. one address; and such postage shall in all cases be fully prepaid by stamps, plainly affixed to the wrapper thereof. Double these rates shall be charged for books. Unsealed circulars, not exceeding three in number, shall pass at the single rate of two cents, and in that proportion for a greater number, adding one rate for three circulars, or less number thereof, directed to one address. No extra postage shall be charged for a card printed or impressed upon an envelope or wrapper. These rates must in all cases be prepaid by stamps. Ibid. 35. 58. The rate of postage upon mailable matter of the second class, issued once a week, or more frequently, from a known office of publication, and sent to regular subscribers, Newspapers and shall be as follows: Upon newspapers and other periodical publications, each not ex- periodicals. ceeding the standard weight of four ounces, and passing through the mails or post offices of the United States between any points therein, the rate for each quarter of the year shall be-for publications issued once a week, five cents; issued twice a week, ten cents; issued three times a week, fifteen cents; issued six times a week, thirty cents; issued seven times a week, thirty-five cents; and in that proportion, adding one rate for each issue more frequent than once a week. For weight exceeding four ounces, and not exceeding eight ounces, an additional rate shall be charged; and on the same scale, an additional rate for each additional weight of four ounces or fraction thereof; and such postage must be prepaid for a term not less than one quarter nor more than one year, at either the office of mailing or of delivery, at the option of the subscriber, of which payments a record shall be made and preserved in the post office where paid; and no such publication shall be delivered from the office until such payment is made; but the publishers of weekly newspapers may send to each actual subscriber within the county where their papers are printed and published one copy thereof free of postage. Ibid. 36. 59. The rate of postage upon mailable matter of the second class, issued less frequently than once a week, from a known office of publication, and sent to regular sub- Periodicalsissued scribers, shall be as follows: Upon newspapers, magazines and other periodical publi- less than weekly. cations, each not exceeding the standard weight of four ounces, and passing through the mails or post offices of the United States between any points therein, the rate for each such paper or periodical shall be one cent, and an additional rate of one cent for each additional weight of four ounces or fraction thereof: Provided, That the postmaster general may provide by regulation for the transportation of small newspapers in packages at the same rate by the standard weight of the package when sent to one address; and the rates herein provided must be prepaid at either the office of mailing or of deli 3 March 1863. Ibid. 37. Subscription closed. very, at the option of the subscriber, for a term not less than one quarter nor more than one year, except that newsdealers may pay the postage upon their packages as received at the same rates pro rata as yearly or semi-annual subscribers who pay postage quarterly in advance. 60. Publishers may enclose in their publications sent to regular subscribers the bills for subscription thereto, without any additional charge for postage, and may write or bills may be en- print upon their publications, or upon the wrappers thereof, the name and address of the subscribers thereto, and the date when the subscription will expire; but any other enclosure or addition in writing or in print shall subject the same to letter postage, which shall be collected before delivery thereof. Ibid. 238. 61. The postmaster-general may from time to time provide by order the rates and Delivery by route terms upon which route agents may receive and deliver, at the mail car or steamer, packages of newspapers and periodicals delivered to them for that purpose by the publishers, or any news agent in charge thereof, and not received from nor designed for delivery at any post office. agents. Ibid. 239. Wrappers. Ibid. 40. remove wrap pers. Ibid. 41. lishers. 62. The postmaster-general has authority to prescribe by regulation the manner of wrapping and securing for the mails all matter not charged with letter postage nor lawfully franked, so that the same may be conveniently examined by postmasters; and if not so wrapped and secured, the same shall be subject to letter postage. He may also provide by regulation for ascertaining by furnished lists, by affidavit or otherwise, whether publishers send or have sent their publications unpaid through the mails to other than their regular subscribers. 63. Postmasters at the office of delivery are authorized, and it shall be their duty, Postmasters may to remove the wrappers and envelopes from printed and other matter not charged with letter postage, nor lawfully franked, for the purpose of ascertaining whether there is upon, or connected with, any such printed matter, or in such package, any matter or thing which would authorize or require the charge of a higher rate of postage thereon. 64. The postmaster-general may require an affidavit, in form to be prescribed by Affidavit of pub- general regulation, to be taken by any publisher, or any clerk, agent or servant of such publisher of any paper or periodical, which, by the terms of this act, may be sent to regular subscribers without prepayment of postage at the mailing office, to the effect that neither he nor any other proprietor, clerk, agent or employee, within his knowledge, has sent, or caused or permitted to be sent, through the mails, without prepayment by postage stamps, any copies of such paper or periodical (naming it), except the Penalty for send- same were sent to bonâ fide and regular subscribers thereto. And if it be ascertained than subscribers. that such papers or periodicals have been thus unlawfully sent, with the knowledge or consent of such proprietors, or of the agent or clerk in charge of that business, or if such affidavit, when required by the postmaster-general, or by a special agent of the post office department, shall be refused, the person guilty of such offence, or refusing such oath, shall be liable to a fine of fifty dollars in each case, to be recovered by suit before any court of competent jurisdiction, one-half of which when recovered shall be paid to the informer. ing to others Ibid. 43 Exchanges. 27 Feb. 1861 2. 12 Stat. 167. Stamped letter sheets to be furnished. Ibid. 3. 65. All publishers of periodicals, magazines and newspapers which shall not exceed sixteen ounces in weight shall be allowed to interchange their publications reciprocally free of postage: Provided, That such interchange shall be confined to a single copy of each publication. X. POSTAGE STAMPS. 66. The postmaster-general shall be and he is hereby authorized to procure and furnish letter sheets with postage stamps impressed thereon (combining in one both a sheet and envelope), and to adopt such other improvements as may be deemed advisable, from time to time, in connection with postage stamps or stamped envelopes for letters or newspapers, subject to the provision that such stamps or envelopes shall be sold at the cost of procuring and furnishing the same as near as may be, and to all other provisions of the 8th section of an act of congress entitled "An act to establish certain post roads and for other purposes," approved August 31st 1852.(a) 67. The penalty of fifty dollars, provided by section 8th of an act of congress entitled Penalty to be in- "An act to establish certain post roads and for other purposes," approved March 3d curred by second 1853,(b) shall apply as well to the using of a stamp cut from a stamped letter or newsuse of a stamp cut from a stamped paper envelope as to the re-use of the envelope entire. letter, &c. 17 July 186221. 12 Stat. 592. Postage stamps to circulate as currency for sums under $5. 68. That the secretary of the treasury be and he is hereby directed to furnish to the assistant treasurers, and such designated depositaries of the United States as may be by him selected, in such sums as he may deem expedient, the postage and other stamps of the United States, to be exchanged by them, on application, for United States notes ; and from and after the first day of August next, such stamps shall be receivable in payment of all dues to the United States less than five dollars, and shall be received in (a) Ante 788, pl. 193. (b) Ante 789, pl. 194. exchange for United States notes when presented to any assistant treasurer or any 17 July 1862. designated depositary selected as aforesaid in sums not less than five dollars. XI. LETTER CARRIERS. 12 Stat. 703. 69. Letter carriers shall be employed at such post offices as the postmaster-general 3 March 1863 11. shall direct, for the delivery of letters in the places respectively where such post offices are established; and for their services they shall severally receive a salary, to be pre- Letter carriers to scribed by the postmaster-general, not exceeding eight hundred dollars per year: Pro- receive a salary. vided, That, on satisfactory evidence of their diligence, fidelity and experience as carriers, the postmaster-general may increase their respective salaries, from time to time, to any sum not exceeding one thousand dollars, at offices where the income from postages on the local letters shall yield a sum more than sufficient to pay all expenses of the carrier system at such offices. Each of the said carriers shall give bond, with sureties, To give bond. to be approved by the postmaster-general, for the safe custody and delivery of all letters, packets and moneys received by him. Deliveries. 70. Whenever the postmaster-general shall have perfected the carrier system in any Ibid. 12. postal district so as, in his judgment, to justify him therein, he is authorized to make delivery, within any prescribed postal district, of mail matter by letter carriers, as frequently as the public convenience in such district shall require, and shall make all · proper regulations for that purpose. Ibid. 13. boxes. 71. The postmaster-general is authorized, when, in his judgment, the public interest or convenience may require it, to establish one or more branch post offices, and also pillar Branch offices boxes or other receiving boxes, for the safe deposit of matter for the mails and for deli- and receivingvery; and in case of such establishment of a branch office, the person in charge thereof shall be appointed and his salary fixed, as in the case of a letter carrier, and the like bond required: Provided, That the post officer in charge of the branch office may also Sale of stamps. be a depositary for the sale of stamps, to be delivered to him for that purpose, by the postmaster of that postal district, in sums not at any time to exceed one-half of the penalty of his bond. Ibid. 14. 72. All expenses for the letter carriers, branch offices and receiving boxes, or incident thereto, shall be entered and reported in a separate account from the ordinary postal Payment of exexpenses of such post office, and shall be shown in comparison with the proceeds of the penses. postages on local mail matter at each office, in order that the postmaster-general may be guided in the expenditures for that branch of the postal service by the income derived therefrom; and all such expenses shall be paid out of the income of the post office at the district in which they are incurred. Ibid. § 15 Delivery of 73. The postmaster of any office where letter carriers are employed may contract with the publishers of any newspapers or periodicals, and with the publishers of any circulars, for the delivery by postal carriers, within his postal district, of any such publica- printed matter. tions not coming through the mails, at rates and upon terms to be agreed upon, such arrangement and terms being equally open to all like publishers; but such contract shall have no force or effect until approved by the postmaster-general. The postmastergeneral may also provide by regulation for the delivery by such carriers of small packets other than letters or papers, and not exceeding the maximum weight of mailable packages; but such packages must be prepaid by postage stamps at the rate of two cents for each four ounces or fraction thereof. XII. UNCLAIMED LETTERS. 12 Stat. 11. 74. When any person shall indorse on any letter his or her name and place of resi- 6 April 1860 § 1. dence, as writer thereof, the same after remaining uncalled for at the office to which it is directed thirty days, or the time the writer may direct, shall be returned by mail to said writer; and no such letters shall be advertised, nor shall the same be treated as dead letters, until so returned to the post office of the writer and there remaining uncalled for one quarter. Letters indorsed dress, not to be advertised, &c. with writer's ad 27 Feb. 1861 ? 12 Stat. 168. When unclaimed letters to be sent 75. Letters which have been advertised under existing laws (vide section 26, act of March 3d 1825, (a) and section 5, act of March 3d 1851,(b) shall be returned to the post office department as dead letters, if unclaimed two months after the date of the advertisement: Provided, [That] letters at seaports intended for persons on board of to the dead letter certain designated vessels expected to arrive, and letters specially marked to be retained office. a longer period, shall be excepted from the operation of this act: And provided further, That said letters shall be returned under regulations to be prescribed by the postmastergeneral. 76. The unclaimed money from dead letters, now appropriated to the use of the department under section 26, act of March 3d 1825, (c) may be exclusively applied in (b) Ante 790, pl. 203. (a) Ante 790, pl. 200. Ibid. 27. (c) Ante 790, pl. 200. 27 February 1861. future to promote the efficiency of the dead letter office, by providing for a more careful examination of letters, and the return of a larger number to the writers (whether with or without valuable enclosures): Provided, [That] said officer shall make a detailed report of his proceedings to congress during the next session thereof. Disposition of money found in unclaimed letters 21 Jan. 1862 1. 12 Stat. 332. 77. That the postmaster-general be authorized to return all dead letters, except those containing circulars and other worthless matter, to their writers, whenever their names Dead letters to be can be ascertained. [All valuable letters to be charged treble, and all others double the ordinary rate of postage, to be collected from the writers.] returned. Ibid. § 2. Additional clerks to be employed. 3 March 1863 27. 12 Stat. 702. lations as to unclaimed letters. Publication. 78. To enable this to be done, the postmaster-general is authorized to employ not exceeding twenty-five additional clerks, at salaries not exceeding an average of eight hundred dollars per year, and no one to receive over twelve hundred dollars per year: Provided, He is satisfied that the receipts for dead letter postage will amount to a sum sufficient to pay the aggregate compensation of the said clerks. And he shall report to the next session of congress the additional income from this source, with its cost and statistical results. 79. The postmaster-general is hereby authorized to regulate the periods during which undelivered letters shall remain in any post office, and the times such letters shall be Postmaster-gene- returned to t!, dead letter office, and to make regulations for their return to the writers ral to make regu from the dead letter office, when he is satisfied they cannot be delivered to the parties addressed. He is authorized also to order the publication of the list of non-delivered letters at any post office, in his discretion, by writing, posted in a public place or places, or in any daily or weekly newspaper regularly published within the post office delivery having the largest circulation within such delivery; and where no daily paper is published within the post office delivery, such list may be published in any daily newspaper of an adjoining delivery having the largest circulation within the delivery of the post office publishing [the] list; but in no case shall compensation for such publication be allowed at a rate exceeding one cent for each letter so advertised; and no such publication shall be required except where the postmaster-general shall decide that the public interest requires it: Provided, That letters addressed to parties foreign born may be published in a journal of the language most used by the parties addressed, if such be published in the same, or an adjoining delivery. Compensation. Ibid. 38. Unclaimed let ters containing valuable enclo sures to be regis tered. Disposition thereof. Ibid. 29 Disposition of un matter. 80. Dead letters containing valuable enclosures shall be registered in the department; and when it appears that they can neither be delivered to their address nor to the writers, the contents thereof, so far as available, shall be included with the receipts of the post office department, and the amount thereof shall be shown in the annual report, and shall be subject to reclamation by either the party addressed or by the sender, for four years from registry thereof, careful account being kept of the same. All other letters deemed of value or of importance to the party addressed, or to the writer, and which it appears cannot be returned to either destination, shall be disposed of as the postmaster-general shall direct. 81. The postmaster-general may provide by regulation for the disposition, for the benefit of the department, of printed matter which remains in any post office, or in the claimed printed department, not called for by the party addressed; but the postmaster shall notify the publisher of any newspaper or periodical of the fact when any subscriber shall refuse to take the same from the office, or shall neglect to call for the same for the period of one month, which notice may be sent free under regulation to be provided by the postmaster-general. Ibid. 10. 82. The action of the post office department respecting foreign dead letters shall be subject to conventional stipulations with the respective foreign administrations. An information, under the act 3 March 1845 2 10 (768, pl. 59), for carrying a letter out of the mail, need not negative the fact that it was stamped; the act of 1852, which allows stamped let ters to be so carried, merely furnishes matter of defence. United States v. Tilden, 21 Law Rep. 598. A prosecution under that act must be by information, not by indictment. Ibid. Neither the act of 2 March 1827 (767, pl. 52) nor that of 3 March 1845 (767, pl. 58) prohibits the business of private letter carrying, within the limits of a post town. United States v. Kochersperger, 9 Am. L. R. 145. See United States v. Hall, Ibid. 232. The establishment of post routes, within the limits of a city by the postmaster-general, under the act of 3 March 1851 (789, pl. 198), does not render them post roads within the meaning of the act of 1827, nor make the business of private letter carriers within the postal district of the city, unlawful. Ibid. Where a postmaster has made default in not paying the quarterly balance found to be due to the United States, on a settlement of his accounts, and no suit is instituted for two years after such default, his sureties are discharged. Roddy r. United States, 10 Pittsburgh Leg. J. 161. Practice. 1. Where transitory actions to be brought. Service of process in another district. Process in local actions. 2. Where local actions to be brought in respect to land, &c., in different districts. 11 Stat. 272. trict. 1. All suits, not of a local nature, hereafter to be brought in the circuit and district 4 May 1858 2 1. courts of the United States, in a district in any state containing more than one district, against a single defendant, shall be brought in the district in which the defendant Where transiresides; but if there be two or more defendants, residing in different districts in the tory actions to be brought. same state, the plaintiff may sue in either district and issue a duplicate writ against service of process the defendants, directed to the marshal of any other district within the state in which in another disany of the defendants reside; on which duplicate writ the clerk issuing the same shall indorse that it is a true copy of a writ sued out of the court of the proper district; and such original and duplicate writs, so issued, shall, when executed and returned into the office from which they issued, constitute one suit and be proceeded on accordingly; and upon any judgment rendered in a suit so brought, process of execution may be issued, directed to the marshal of any district in the same state. And in suits of a local na- Process in local ture, where the defendant resides in a different district, in the same state, than the one in which the suit is brought, the plaintiff may have original and final process against such defendant, directed to the marshal of the district in which he resides. actions. Ibid. 22. 2. In all cases of a local nature, at law or in equity, where the land or other subjectmatter of a fixed character lies partly in one district and partly in another district, Where local within the same state, the plaintiff may bring his action or suit in the circuit or district actions to be court of either district; and the court in which any such action or suit shall have been spect to land, &c., brought in recommenced, as aforesaid, shall have jurisdiction to hear and decide the same, and to in different discause mesne or final process to be issued and executed, as fully as if the land or other subject-matter were wholly within the district for which such court is constituted. Under the act of 1817 (137, pl. 6), the court is authorized to require its officers to pay moneys received by them into court, to be deposited in bank by the clerk of the court. And a late deputy marshal is such officer, and amenable to summary proceedings by attachment. The Bark Laurens, 1 Abbott 508. In deciding a question depending on the state laws, the federal courts, where there are conflicting cases, adopt the latest decision of the supreme court of the state, as their rule of decision, under the act of 1789. Dike v. Kuhns, 5 Pittsburgh Leg. J. 239. Where a circuit court adopted the construction of a state statute, placed upon it by the supreme court of the state, the supreme court of the United States will not reverse, because such construction was subsequently overruled by the state court. Morgan v. Curtenius, 20 How. 1. The state laws of evidence are rules of decision, in trials at com tricts. mon law, in the federal courts; and the United States are bound by the same rules of evidence as other suitors. United States v. Dunham, 21 Law Rep. 591. The act 28 February 1839 (15, pl. 2) does not enable the circuit courts to make a decree in equity which may affect a resulting interest vested in a party not before the court. But if an objec tion for the want of such a party be sustained at the final hear ing, the court, instead of dismissing the bill, usually retains the cause, in order that he may be made a party. Winter v. Ludlow, 16 Leg. Int. 332. Under the act 8 May 1858 (supra 1), a subpoena issued to bring in such a party, may be served in any other district of the same state, although the original suit was commenced before the passage of the act; for the proceeding, though supplemental as to the former parties, is original as to such new party. Ibid. 11 Stat. 422. ments ordered by 1. After the expiration of the present session of congress, when any document shall 3 March 1859 33. be ordered to be printed by both houses of congress, whether the copies ordered be the reserved [regular] number or additional [extra] numbers, the entire printing of such Printing of docudocuments shall be done by the printer of that house which first ordered the same; and both houses rethe house so first ordering the same shall immediately notify the other house of such gulated. order. And the superintendent of public printing is hereby directed, in all cases when any document has been ordered to be printed by both houses of congress, to cause the |