39 U.S.C. § 3201
Section 3201 · Definitions
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 4 court decisions — leading case Hoellen v. Annunzio (1972)
Most recently applied in 574 F. Supp. 672 - Common Cause v. Bolger (September 1982)
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.
As used in this chapter—
(1) “penalty mail” means official mail, other than franked mail, which is authorized by law to be transmitted in the mail without prepayment of postage;
(2) “penalty cover” means envelopes, wrappers, labels, or cards used to transmit penalty mail;
(3) “frank” means the autographic or facsimile signature of persons authorized by sections 3210–3216 and 3218 of this title to transmit matter through the mail without prepayment of postage or other indicia contemplated by sections 733 and 907 of title 44;
(4) “franked mail” means mail which is transmitted in the mail under a frank;
(5) “Members of Congress” includes Senators, Representatives, Delegates, and Resident Commissioners; and
(6) “missing child” has the meaning provided by section 403(1) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendment of Section
For termination of amendment by section 5 of Pub. L. 99–87, see Termination Date of 1985 Amendment note below.
References in Text
Section 403(1) of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act of 1974, referred to in par. (6), is classified to section 5772(1) of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare.
Amendments
1985—Par. (6). Pub. L. 99–87 temporarily added par. (6). See Termination Date of 1985 Amendment note below.
Termination Date of 1985 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 99–87 not effective after Dec. 31, 1997, see section 5 of Pub. L. 99–87, as amended, set out as a Termination Date note under section 3220 of this title.
Effective Date
Chapter effective July 1, 1971, pursuant to Resolution No. 71–9 of the Board of Governors. See section 15(a) of Pub. L. 91–375, set out as a note preceding section 101 of this title.