Leach v. Carlile

Decision Date27 February 1922
Docket NumberNo. 105,105
Citation66 L.Ed. 511,42 S.Ct. 227,258 U.S. 138
PartiesLEACH v. CARLILE, Postmaster
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Mr. Lee D. Mathias, of Chicago, Ill., for appellant.

Messrs. Assistant Attorney General Crim, Solicitor General James M. Beck, and Harry S. Ridgely, both of Washington, D. C., for appellee.

Mr. Justice CLARKE delivered the opinion of the Court.

The appellant, doing business in the name of 'Organo Product Company,' in his bill prayed for an injunction restraining the Postmaster at Chicago from giving effect to a 'fraud order' against him, issued by the Postmaster General on August 15, 1919, pursuant to authority of Revised Statute, §§ 3929 and 4041 (Comp. St. §§ 7411, 7573). The order was in the usual form, prohibiting the delivery of mail or payment of money orders to appellant, and directing the disposition of mail which should be addressed to him. The District Court, refusing the injunction, dismissed the bill, and the Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed its decree. Leach v. Carlile, 267 Fed. 61.

The appellant was engaged in selling what he called 'Organo Tablets,' which he advertised extensively through the mails as 'recommended and prescribed by leading physicians throughout the civilized world for nervous weakness, general debility, sexual decline or weakened manhood and urinary disorders * * * sleeplessness and rundown system,' and various other ailments.

Appellant is an old offender, a prior fraud order having been issued against him, under another name, in April, 1918, as a result of which he changed his trade-name and modified in a measure his advertising matter.

The order complained of was entered after an elaborate hearing, of which the appellant had due notice and at which he was represented by counsel, and introduced much evidence.

The only error assigned in this court is the affirming by the Circuit Court of Appeals of the decree of the District Court, refusing the injunction and dismissing the bill. In argument it is contended that the question decided by the Postmaster General was that the substance which the appellant was selling did not produce the results claimed for it, that this, on the record, was a matter of opinion as to which there was conflict of evidence, and that therefore the case is within the scope of American School of Magnetic Healing v. McAnnulty, 187 U. S. 94, 23 Sup. Ct. 33, 47 L. Ed. 90. Without considering whether such a state of facts would bring the case within the decision cited, it is sufficient to say that the question really decided by the lower courts was, not that the substance which appellant was selling was entirely worthless as a medicine, as to which there was some conflict in the evidence, but that it was so far from being the panacea which he was advertising it through the mails to be, that by so advertising it he was perpetrating a fraud upon the public. This was a question of fact which the statutes cited committed to the decision of the Postmaster General, and the applicable, settled rule of law is that the conclusion of a head of an executive department on such a question, when committed to him by law, will not be reviewed by the courts where it is fairly arribed at and has substantial evidence to support it, so that it cannot justly be said to be palpably wrong and therefore arbitrary. Bates & Guild Co. v. Payne, 194 U. S. 106, 108, 109, 24 Sup. Ct. 595, 48 L. Ed. 894; Smith v. Hitchcock, 226 U. S. 53, 58, 33 Sup. Ct. 6, 57 L. Ed. 119; Houston v. St. Louis Independent Packing Co., 249 U. S. 479, 484, 39 Sup. Ct. 332, 63 L. Ed. 717; United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson, 255 U. S. 407, 413, 41 Sup. Ct. 352, 65 L. Ed. 704, and cases cited.

An examination of the record fully justifies the conclusion of the Circuit Court of Appeals that it not only fails to show that the Postmaster General had no...

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59 cases
  • Roth v. United States Alberts v. State of California
    • United States
    • United States Supreme Court
    • 24 Junio 1957
    ...Co. v. Burleson, 255 U.S. 407, 430 433, 41 S.Ct. 352, 360—361, 65 L.Ed. 704; Holmes, J., dissenting, in Leach v. Carlile, 258 U.S. 138, 140, 42 S.Ct. 227, 228, 66 L.Ed. 511; Cates v. Haderlein, 342 U.S. 804, 72 S.Ct. 47, 96 L.Ed. 609, reversing 7 Cir., 189 F.2d 369; Door v. Donaldson, 90 U.......
  • Tollett v. United States
    • United States
    • United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (8th Circuit)
    • 2 Octubre 1973
    ...Co. v. Burleson, 255 U.S. 407, 430-433 41 S.Ct. 352, 360-361, 65 L.Ed. 704; Holmes, J., dissenting, in Leach v. Carlile, 258 U.S. 138, 140 42 S.Ct. 227, 228, 66 L.Ed. 511; Cates v. Haderlein, 342 U.S. 804 72 S.Ct. 47, 96 L.Ed. 609, reversing 7 Cir. 189 F.2d 369; Door v. Donaldson, 90 U.S.Ap......
  • Jeffries v. Olesen
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of California
    • 13 Mayo 1954
    ...an opportunity to appear at a convenient place and time and be heard. * * *", See Leach v. Carlile, 1922, 258 U.S. 138, 140-141, 42 S.Ct. 227, 66 L.Ed. 511 (dissenting opinion of Holmes and Brandeis, JJ.); cf. U. S. ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Pub. Co. v. Burleson, 1921, 255 U.S. 40......
  • United States v. United States Gypsum Co.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • 15 Noviembre 1943
    ...executive branch of the Government. Welch v. Obispo Oil Co., 1937, 301 U.S. 190, 57 S.Ct. 684, 81 L.Ed. 1033; Leach v. Carlile, 1922, 258 U.S. 138, 42 S.Ct. 227, 66 L.Ed. 511; Houston v. St. Louis Independent Packing Co., 1919, 249 U.S. 479, 39 S.Ct. 332, 63 L.Ed. 717; see American T. & T. ......
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2 books & journal articles
  • Censorship by proxy: the First Amendment, Internet intermediaries, and the problem of the weakest link.
    • United States
    • University of Pennsylvania Law Review Vol. 155 No. 1, November 2006
    • 1 Noviembre 2006
    ...upheld in United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson, 255 U.S. 407 (1921). See also Leach v. Carlile, 258 U.S. 138, 140 (1922) (affirming the right of the Postmaster General to issue a fraud order, over dissents by Justices Holmes and Brandeis); Lewis Publ'......
  • The Fiction of the First Freedom
    • United States
    • Political Research Quarterly No. 6-2, June 1953
    • 1 Junio 1953
    ...229 U.S. 288 (1913); United States ex rel. Milwaukee Social Democratic Publishing Co. v. Burleson, 225 U.S. 407 (1921); Leach v. Carlile,258 U.S. 138 (1922); United States v. Ballard, 322 U.S. 78 (1944); Donaldson v. Read Inc., 333 U.S. 178 (1944). 9 May Dept. Store Co. v. N. L. R. B., 326 ......

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