History and Development of the Monopoly on the Carriage of Mail and the Monopoly on Access to Mailboxes
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Study on Universal Postal Service and the Postal Monopoly Appendix C Postal Monopoly Laws: History and Development of the Monopoly on the Carriage of Mail and the Monopoly on Access to Mailboxes James I. Campbell Jr. POSTAL MONOPOLY LAWS 2 Contents Summary........................................................................................................................................ 5 1 Introduction......................................................................................................................... 14 1.1 Objectives and Organization......................................................................................... 14 1.2 Elements of the Postal Monopoly Law......................................................................... 15 1.3 Elements of the Mailbox Monopoly ............................................................................. 18 1.4 Prior Studies.................................................................................................................. 18 2 English Precedents: Origin of the Postal Monopoly........................................................ 20 2.1 Pre-industrial Postal Systems........................................................................................ 20 2.2 Origin of the Government Post Office and the Postal Monopoly................................. 23 2.3 English Postal Act of 1660 ........................................................................................... 26 2.4 English Postal Act of 1710 ........................................................................................... 29 2.5 Summary of English Precedents ................................................................................... 31 3 Early Postal Monopoly Laws, 1780s to 1830s................................................................... 33 3.1 Confederation and the Postal Ordinance of 1782 ......................................................... 33 3.2 Postal Act of 1792......................................................................................................... 37 3.3 Postal Acts of 1794, 1799, and 1810 ............................................................................ 44 3.4 Postal Act of 1815......................................................................................................... 49 3.5 Postal Acts of 1825 and 1827 ....................................................................................... 50 3.6 U.S. v. Chaloner, 1831.................................................................................................. 54 3.7 Early Express Operations.............................................................................................. 56 3.8 Post Office in the 1830s................................................................................................ 57 3.9 Summary of Early Postal Monopoly Laws................................................................... 61 4 Cheap Postage and Private Expresses: Acts of 1845 and 1851....................................... 63 4.1 Cheap Postage and Private Expresses........................................................................... 63 4.2 Failure of the Pre-industrial "Postal" Monopoly Law .................................................. 66 4.3 Postal Act of 1845......................................................................................................... 71 4.4 Private Express Prohibitions in the Postal Act of 1845 ................................................ 79 4.5 Judicial Interpretation: U.S. v. Bromley, 1851 ............................................................. 83 4.6 Triumph of Cheap Postage............................................................................................ 85 5 Local and International Postal Services, 1840s to 1860s................................................. 89 5.1 Beginnings of Local Postal Service .............................................................................. 89 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY NOVEMBER 2008 POSTAL MONOPOLY LAWS 3 5.2 U.S. v. Kochersperger and the Local Service Monopoly, 1860–61 ............................. 91 5.3 Search and Seizure Authority, 1852 ............................................................................. 96 5.4 Stamped Envelope Exception, 1852–1864 ................................................................. 100 5.5 Outbound International Mail Monopoly, 1865........................................................... 102 6 Postal Code of 1872 and Early Implementation............................................................. 106 6.1 POD Draft Postal Code of 1863.................................................................................. 106 6.2 Postal Code of 1872.................................................................................................... 109 6.3 Revised Statutes of 1874............................................................................................. 118 6.4 Early Interpretations of the Postal Monopoly of 1872................................................ 120 6.5 Prior-to-Posting Exception, 1879................................................................................ 127 6.6 End of Private Penny Posts, 1883............................................................................... 128 6.7 Post Office and Postal Monopoly in the 1880s........................................................... 129 7 Railroad Mail and the Monopoly, 1890s to 1910s.......................................................... 132 7.1 Disputes over Railroad Mail ....................................................................................... 133 7.2 Corruption in the Office of the Assistant Attorney General....................................... 140 7.3 Criminal Code of 1909 and the Letters-of-the-Carrier Exception.............................. 141 7.4 Williams v. Well Fargo, 1910..................................................................................... 143 7.5 U.S. v. Erie Railroad, 1915......................................................................................... 144 8 Evolution of Administrative Interpretation, 1910s to 1960s......................................... 146 8.1 Consolidation of Administrative and Judicial Rulings ............................................... 146 8.2 Development of Statutory Interpretation: Solicitor William Lamar, 1913–1921....... 148 8.3 Development of Administrative Authority: Solicitor Karl Crowley, 1933–38 .......... 159 8.4 Mailbox Monopoly Statute, 1934 ............................................................................... 162 8.5 Limitation of Special Messenger Exception, 1934..................................................... 169 8.6 Proposal to Eliminate "Regular Trips or Stated Periods," 1935 ................................. 170 8.7 Expansion of the Stamped Envelope Exception, 1938 ............................................... 172 8.8 From Pamphlets to the Postal Monopoly Regulations of 1954 .................................. 174 8.9 Postal Code of 1960 and Rulemaking Authority ........................................................ 180 8.10 NALC v. Independent Postal System, 1971 ............................................................... 182 8.11 Summary of the Evolution of Post Office Administration of the Monopoly ............. 183 9 Postal Reorganization and the Monopoly, 1970–1974................................................... 186 9.1 Board of Governors Report, 1973............................................................................... 186 9.2 Postal Monopoly Regulations of 1974........................................................................ 190 9.3 Commission and the Postal Monopoly ....................................................................... 199 9.4 Questions about USPS Suspension Authority ............................................................ 199 GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY NOVEMBER 2008 POSTAL MONOPOLY LAWS 4 9.5 ATCMU v. USPS, 1979.............................................................................................. 205 10 USPS Administration of the Monopoly Laws to 2006 ................................................... 214 10.1 Private Express Companies and Suspension for Urgent Letters, 1979....................... 214 10.2 Amendments to Postal Monopoly Regulations, 1979................................................. 218 10.3 Suspension for International Remail, 1986................................................................. 219 10.4 Judicial Interpretation after ATCMU.......................................................................... 221 10.5 Increase in Criminal Penalties, 1994 .......................................................................... 223 10.6 Mailbox Monopoly Regulations: Rockville Reminder, 1973..................................... 224 10.7 Mailbox Monopoly Statute: USPS v. Council of Greenburg Civic Ass'ns, 1981 ...... 227 10.8 Postal Service and Postal Monopoly in 2006 ............................................................. 232 11 PAEA and the Current Status of the Monopoly Laws .................................................. 234 11.1 Price Limit Exception ................................................................................................. 234 11.2 Weight Limit Exception.............................................................................................. 235 11.3 Grandfather Exception...............................................................................................