register of the arrival and departure of the mails, shall be allowed ten cents for each monthly return which he makes thereof to the general post-office.
Postmasters to settle their accounts, and pay over to the Postmaster-General the balances in their hands every three months.Sec. 29. And be it further enacted, That if any postmaster or other person authorized to receive the postage of letters and packets shall neglect or refuse to render his accounts, and pay over to the Postmaster-General the balance by him due at the end of every three months, it shall be the duty of the Postmaster-General to cause a suit to be commenced against the person or persons so neglecting or refusing; and if the Postmaster-General shall not cause such suit to be commenced within six months from the end of every such three months, the balances due from every such delinquent shall be charged to and recoverable from the Postmaster-General. That all suits which shall be hereafter commenced for the recovery of debts or balances due to the general post-office, whether they appear by bond or obligations made in the name of the existing or any preceding Postmaster-General, or otherwise, shall be instituted in the name of the “Postmaster-General of the United States.” That certified copies under the seal of the general post-office, of the accounts current of the several postmasters, after the same shall have been examined and adjusted at that office, shall be admitted as evidence in all suits brought by the Postmaster-General for the recovery of balances or debts due from postmasters, and in like manner copies of such accounts current as are lodged in the office of the register of the treasury, certified by the register under the seal of his office, shall be admitted as evidence.[1]
Penalties upon the postmasters for not making duly their returns to the general post-office.
Act of March 3, 1825, ch. 103.Sec. 30. And be it further enacted, That if any postmaster or other person who shall receive and open, or despatch mails, shall neglect to render accounts thereof for one month after the time, and in the form and manner prescribed by law, and by the Postmaster-General’s instructions conformable therewith, he shall forfeit double the value of the postages which shall have arisen at the same office in any equal portion of time previous or subsequent thereto; or in case no account shall have been rendered at the time of trial of such case, then such sum as the court and jury shall estimate equivalent thereto, to be recovered by the Postmaster-General in an action on the case.
Persons to whom pecuniary penalties and forfeitures are to enure.Sec. 31. And be it further enacted, That all pecuniary penalties and forfeitures incurred under this act, shall be one half for the use of the person or persons informing and prosecuting for the same, and the other half to the use of the United States.
Sec. 32. And be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for the- ↑ The circuit courts of the Union have jurisdiction under the constitution and the acts of April 30, 1810, and of March 3, 1815, sec. 4, of suits brought in the name of “the Postmaster-General of the United States,” on a bond given to the Postmaster-General, by a deputy postmaster, conditioned “to pay all monies that shall come to his hands for the postages of whatever is by law chargeable with postage, to the Postmaster-General of the United States,” for the time being, deducting only the commission and allowances made by law, for his care, trouble, and charges in managing such office, &c. Postmaster-General v. Early, 12 Whea. 136; 6 Cond. Rep. 480.The Postmaster-General has a right to take a bond from postmasters, to him, as Postmaster-General, under the different acts regulating the post-office department, and particularly under the act of April 30, 1810, sec. 29, 42. Ibid.The Postmaster-General cannot sue in the federal courts, under that part of the constitution which gives jurisdiction to those courts in consequence of the character of the party, nor is he authorized to sue by the judiciary act. He comes into the courts of the United States, under the authority of an act of Congress, the constitutionality of which rests on the admission that his suit is a case arising under a law of the United States. Osborne et al. v. The Bank of the United States, 9 Wheat. 738; 5 Cond. Rep. 741.The claim of the United States on the official bond of a postmaster, and upon all the parties thereto, is not released by the laches of the Postmaster-General, to whom the assertion of this claim is entrusted by law. Such laches have no effect whatsoever on the claims of the United States, as well on the sureties, as on the principal in the bond. Dox et al. v. the Postmaster-General, 1 Peters, 323. Postmaster-General v. Reeder, 4 Wash. C. C. R. 678.The provisions of the act of March 3, 1825, releasing the securities of a deputy postmaster, where suit is not brought within two years after a default, do not apply to a default which occured before the passing of the act. Postmaster-General v. Rice, Gilpin’s D. C. R. 462.
