Dunlop v. Munroe

• Decision Date: 09 March 1812
• Parties: DUNLOP v. MUNROE
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

11 U.S. 242

7 Cranch 242

3 L.Ed. 329

DUNLOP v. MUNROE.

March 9, 1812

Present. All the Judges.

ERROR to the Circuit Court for the district of Columbia, sitting at Washington, in an action wherein James and John Dunlop were Plaintiffs, and Thomas Munroe, the deputy post-master at Washington, was Defendant.

The declaration after having been several times amended, contained nine counts.

1. The first count was as follows—Thomas Munroe, late of Washington county, gentleman, was attached to answer unto James Dunlop and John Dunlop in a plea of trespass on the case, &c. whereupon the said James and John, by Francis S. Key, their attorney complain, that whereas, by the laws of the United States of America, relative to the post-office establishment of the United States, and of the post-roads within the United States, it was enacted, that there should be established, at the seat of the government of the United States, a general post-office, under the direction of a post-master general, and that post-offices should be established; and that post-masters should be appointed by the said post-master general, at all such places as should appear to him expedient, on the post-roads which then were, or might thereafter be established, and the carriage of the mail on all such post-roads provided for; and that every post-master, so appointed by the said post-master general, should keep an office, in which one or more persons should attend for the purpose of performing the duties thereof; and a post-road was directed to be established from Passamaquaddy, in the district of Maine, to St. Mayr's, in Georgia, within the said United States; and the city of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, and the city of Washington, in the district of Columbia, and the town of Petersburg, in the state of Virginia, were places through which the said post-road was directed by law to pass. And whereas in pursuance of the said laws, a general post-office was established at the seat of government of the United States, under the direction of a post-master general, duly appointed and qualified, and a post-road established within the U. States from Passamaquaddy, in the district of Maine aforesaid, to St. Mary's, in Georgia aforesaid; and the said city of Philadelphia, and the said city of Washington, and the said town of Petersburgh, were places through which the said road did pass, and post-offices were duly established at the said places, so as aforesaid on the said post-road, by the said post-master general; and post-masters by him duly appointed and qualified to attend to the duties of the said post-offices, and the carriage of the mail of the U. States on the said post-road provided for by the said post-master general agreeably, to law: and the said Thomas Munroe was, by the said post-master general, duly appointed and qualified the post-master at the said office, so as aforesaid established at the said city of Washington on the said post-road, and between the city of Philadelphia and the town of Petersburgh aforesaid, also on the said post-road, and as such was bound to attend to and perform all the duties thereof, and to receive, make up, and distribute and forward the mails of the said United States, and all the letters and packets contained therein which should arrive or come to his said post-office so by him kept as aforesaid at the said city of Washington, to all such places on the said post road to which the same were directed and addressed; and the said Thomas so being, as aforesaid, post-master at the said post-office, so as aforesaid lawfully established at the said city of Washington, on the post-road so as aforesaid also lawfully established, and post-offices being, also, in like manner, lawfully established at the said city of Philadelphia, and the said town of Petersburgh, on the said post road, and post-masters duly appointed and qualified, and attending to the duties of the said post-offices, on the thirteth day of July, in the year eighteen hundred and six, the said James and John being possessed of a large sum of money, to wit: the sum of two thousand dollars current money of the United States of their own proper money, and being so possessed thereof, on the same day and year, did enclose the same in bank notes by means of their agents in that particular, (a certain Walker and Kennedy) in a letter sealed, and directed to the said James and John at Petersburgh, in Virginia aforesaid, on the post-road aforesaid, and the said sum of money, so sealed and enclosed in said letter so directed, did place in the post-office in the said city of Philadelphia, so as aforesaid established on the said post-road, to be forwarded on the said post road, in the mail of the United States to the said town of Petersbugh on the post-road aforesaid, and the said letter, directed as foreasid, and the money in bank notes as aforesaid, to the said amount, enclosed in the same, were accordingly, by the said post-master at Philadelphia, and from the office there established as aforesaid on the said post road, sent on and forwarded in the mail of the U. States, on the day and year aforesaid; and did afterwards, to wit: on the first day of Angust, in the year aforesaid, arrive at the post-office of the said Thomas, postmaster, as aforesaid, in the said city of Washington, on the said post-road, in the mail of the United States, on the route to the post-office at Petersburgh aforesaid, on the post-road aforesaid, and was, on the day and year last mentioned, at the county of Washington aforesaid, received by the said Thomas to be by him sent on and forwarded in the mail of the United States, on the said post-road, to the said James and John, at Petersburgh, to whom the same was directed and addressed; yet the said Thomas, regardless of his said duty as postmaster, and wholly neglecting the same, did not send on the said letter, and the sum of money contained and enclosed in the same, to the said town of Peterbugh, on the said post-road, in the mail of the United States, to the said James and John to whom the same was directed, as it was his duty to do; but the same letter and the said sum of money therein contained as aforesaid, were fraudulently and improperly secreted, withheld, and taken, in the said post-office, at the city of Washington aforesaid, by the said Thomas, or some other person employed by him, in his said office, so that the said James and John were prevented from receiving the same, and the same letter, and sum of money, have been wholly lost to the said Plaintiffs.

2. The 2d count was like the first in every particular, except that it states that the Plaintiffs placed the letter, enclosing the money in the post-office at Philadelphia, to be forwarded 'without delaying the same a single post' and that it was received by the Defendant at his office in Washington on the 1st of August, 1806, to be by him sent on and forwarded, without delaying the same a single post, in the mail of the United States, &c. 'yet the said Thomas, regardless of his said duty as post-master, and wholly neglecting the same, did not, on the first day of August in the year aforesaid, send on the said letter and the sum of money contained and inclused in the same, to the town of Petersburgh on the said post-road, in the mail of the United States, which left the city of Washington on the said first day of August, in the year aforesaid, for Petersburgh aforesaid, as it was his duty and in his power to have done; but the same letter, and the said sum of money therein contained as aforesaid, were by the negligence, carelessness, and misconduct of the said Thomas, in his said office aforesaid, utterly, afterwards to them, the said James and John, lost; by reason whereof the said James and John, the sum of money so as aforesaid, contained and enclosed in the said letter directed and addressed as aforesaid, and the use and possession of the same, have entirely lost; to the great damage,' &c.

3. The 3d count was like the first in every respect, except that instead of averring that the Plaintiffs were possessed of a large sum of money, it avers that they were possessed of 'certain property of great value, to wit: of certain bank notes for the payment of money to the amount of the value of two thousand dollars, current money of the United States, as their own property, and enclosed the same bank notes,' &c. using the words 'bank notes,' in lieu of the words 'sum of money' in the residue of the count. It contains also an averment of a demand and refusal of the Defendant to deliver the letter and bank notes, whereby the same have been totally lost to the Plaintiffs, whereof the Defendant had notice.

4. The 4th count was like the first, except that it uses the terms 'bank notes,' instead of 'sum of money in bank notes;' and instead of averring, that the letter and sum of money were 'fraudulently and improperly secreted, withheld and taken, in the said post-office,' it avers that 'the same letter and bank notes were, by the negligence, carelessness, and misconduct of the said Thomas in his said office, lost,' &c.—and avers a demand and refusal to deliver them, whereby they have been totally lost to the Plaintiffs, whereof the Defendant had notice, &c.

5. The 5th count varied from the others considerably in the recital, respecting the establishment of post-roads and post-offices; but the principal difference consisted in an averment, that the post-masters, appointed by the post-master general, were to perform their duties according to law, 'and to the instructions of the post-master general relative to their duty.' That the post-office at Washington was a distributing office, and that it was the duty of the Defendant, according to the instructions of the post-master general then in force, to open the mail addressed 'Southern,' and to distribute and re-mail the letters and packets into proper mails before the departure of the mail; and on no account to delay them a...