18 U.S.C. § 1723
Section 1723 · Avoidance of postage by using lower class matter
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 3 court decisions — leading case United States v. Starr (1987)
Most recently applied in United States v. Starr (April 1987)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Matter of the second, third, or fourth class containing any writing or printing in addition to the original matter, other than as authorized by law, shall not be admitted to the mails, nor delivered, except upon payment of postage for matter of the first class, deducting therefrom any amount which may have been prepaid by stamps affixed, unless by direction of a duly authorized officer of the Postal Service such postage shall be remitted.
Whoever knowingly conceals or incloses any matter of a higher class in that of a lower class, and deposits the same for conveyance by mail, at a less rate than would be charged for such higher class matter, shall be fined under this title.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Historical and Revision Notes
Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §351 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §221, 35 Stat. 1132).
Reference to persons causing or procuring was omitted as unnecessary in view of definition of “principal” in section 2 of this title.
Minor verbal changes were made.
Amendments
1994—Pub. L. 103–322 substituted “fined under this title” for “fined not more than $100” in second par.
1970—Pub. L. 91–375 substituted “a duly authorized officer of the Postal Service” for “Postmaster General” in first par.
Effective Date of 1970 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 91–375 effective within 1 year after Aug. 12, 1970, on date established therefor by Board of Governors of United States Postal Service and published by it in Federal Register, see section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as an Effective Date note preceding section 101 of Title 39, Postal Service.