Post-Office

A government office for the receipt and delivery of the mail. The power to establish post-offices does not enable the postmaster-general to bind the government by leasing a postoffice for twenty years when there is no appropriation therefor; Chase v. U. S., 155 U. S. 489, 15 Sup. Ct. 174, 39 L. Ed. 234. The top of a letter-box is not an authorized depository for mail matter; 17 Op. A. G. 524. A repair shop though designated as a station is not a branch postoffice or station; Knox v. U. S., 30 Ct. Cl. 59. Where goods are sent by mail the postoffice is the agent of the buyer and not the seller; [1898] A. C. 200; and when they are delivered by the seller to the postoffice the title vests in the buyer; id. 204. No person shall furnish any private conveyance for letters or packets, or in any manner cause or provide for the conveyance of the same by regular trips or at stated periods over any post route or between places between which the mail is carried. See Blackham v. Gresham, 16 Fed. 609. All waters, canals, and plank roads are post routes during the time the mail is carried thereon, and all railroads in operation are post roads; R. S. § 3964; all public roads and highways are post roads; Act of March 1, 1884. See U. S. v. R. Co., 160 U. S. 1, 40, 16 Sup. Ct. 190, 40 L. Ed. 319. See Postal Service.

A bureau or department of-government or under governmental superintendence, whose office is to receive, transmit, and deliver letters, papers, and other mail-matter sent by post. Also the office established by government in any city or town for the local operations of the postal system, for the receipt and distribution of mail from other places, the forwarding of mail there deposited, the sale of postage stamps, etc. post-office department. the name of One of the departments of the executive branch of the government of the United States, which has charge of the transmission of the mails and the general postal business of the country.

— Post-office order. A Letter of credit furnished by the government, at A small charge, to facilitate the transmission of money.

See Post, 3.

An office established by congress for the conveyance of letters, newspapers, pamphlets, and the like, from one part of the United States to another. The constitution of the United States, art. 1, s. 8, gives the power to congress, "to establish post offices and post roads." By virtue of this authority various laws have been enacted by congress on this subject; but by the § 46 of the act of March 3, 1825, "all acts and parts of acts which have been passed for the establishment and regulations of the general post office shall be and the same are hereby repealed," with a proviso that they shall continue in force for a certain purpose. This act, which will be found in 3 Story's L. U. S. 1985, establishes at the seat of government of the United States, a general post office, under the direction of a post-master general. He is authorised to appoint clerks, and procure a seal for the use of the office, to authenticate its acts, and to be affixed to the commissions of the post-masters. He is authorised to establish post offices and appoint post masters, at such places as may be established by law. He is to give instructions to his assistants, and the post masters. He is required to provide for the carriage of the mail, and to select post roads, where there are more than one; he shall settle with the post masters quarterly, pay expenses of carrying the mail, prosecute all offences against the post office departments, render, quarterly, to the treasurer of the treasury, an account of all the receipts and expenditures in the said department, and generally superintend the duties of the department. The act of March 2, 1827, 3 Story's L. U. S. 2066, details the duties of postmasters, and the act entitled "An act to change the organization of the post office department and to provide more effectually for the settlement of the accounts thereof," approved July 2, 1836, 4 Sharsw. cont. of Story's L. U. S. 2464, provides, in forty-three sections, a variety of details, principally in relation to the settlement of the accounts of the various officers connected with this department. Vide Letter; Mail; Newspapers; Postage.