United States v. Lacher
| Decision Date | 14 April 1890 |
| Citation | 10 S.Ct. 625,134 U.S. 624,33 L.Ed. 1080 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. LACHER |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Asst. Atty. Gen. Maury and Benj. Barker, for defendant.
The defendant, an employe in the post-office at New York, was found guilty of embezzling a letter containing an article of value on an indictment under section 5467 of the Revised Statutes. A hearing on motions for new trial and in arrest of judgment before the circuit judge of the second circuit and the district judge, holding the court, resulted in a division of opinion upon the following questions, which were certified to this court: Section 5467 is as follows: 'Any person employed in any department of the postal service who shall secrete, embezzle, or destroy any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters intrusted to him, or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any mail carrier, mail messenger, route agent, letter carrier, or other person employed in any department of the postal service, or forwarded to or delivered from any post-office or branch post-office established by authority of the postmaster general, and which shall contain any note, bond, draft, check, warrant, revenue stamp, postage stamp, stamped envelope, postal-card, money order, certificate of stock, or other pecuniary obligation or security of the government, or of any officer or fiscal agent thereof, of any description whatever; any bank-note, bank postbill, bill of exchange, or note of assignment of stock in the funds; any letter of attorney for receiving annuities or dividends, selling stock in the funds, or collecting the interest thereof; any letter of credit, note, bond, warrant, draft, bill, promissory note, covenant, contract, or agreement whatsoever for or relating to the payment of money or the delivery of any article of value, or the performance of any act, matter, or thing; any receipt, release, acquittance, or discharge of or from any debt, covenant, or demand, or any part thereof; any copy of the record of any judgment or decree in any court of law or chancery, or any execution which may have issued thereon; any copy of any other record, or any other article of value, or writing representing the same; any such person who shall steal or take any of the things aforesaid out of any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters which shall have come into his possession either in the regular course of his official duties or in any other manner whatever, and provided the same shall not have been delivered to the party to whom it is directed, shall be punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for not less than one year nor more than five years.'
It is argued that no indictment can be sustained under this section against a post-office employe for secreting, embezzling, or destroying any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters intended to be conveyed by mail, etc., containing any of the articles named, or any other article of value, and that the onl offense punishable under the section is that of stealing or taking any of the things aforesaid 'out of any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters.' As secreting, embezzling, or destroying letters, etc., containing articles of value, are plainly grave offenses, and are described in the section with particularity, the intention to impose a penalty on their commission cannot reasonably be denied; and, although the apparent grammatical construction might be otherwise, the true meaning, if clearly ascertained, ought to prevail. It there be any ambiguity in section 5467, inasmuch as it is a section of the Revised Statutes, which are merely a compilation of the statutes of the United States, revised, simplified, arranged, and consolidated, resort may be had to the original statute from which this section was taken to ascertain what, if any, change of phraseology there is, and whether such change should be construed as changing the law. U. S. v. Bowen, 100 U. S. 508, 513; U. S. v. Hirsch, Id. 33; Myer v. Car Co., 102 U. S. 1, 11. And it is said that this is especially so where the act authorizing the revision directs marginal references, as is the case here. 19 St. c. 82, § 2, p. 268; End. Interp. St. § 51. Accordingly, we find that this section took the place of section 279 of the act of June 8, 1872, (17 St. 318,) which reads as follows: 'That any person employed in any department of the postal service who shall secrete, embezzle, or destroy any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters intrusted to him, or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any mail carrier, mail messenger, route agent, letter carrier, or other person employed in any department of the postal service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post-office or branch post-office established by authority of the postmaster general, and which shall contain any note, bond, draft, check, warrant, revenue stamp, postage-stamp, stamped envelope, postal-card, money order, certificate of stock, or other pecuniary obligation or security of the government, or of an officer or fiscal agent thereof, of any description whatever; any banknote, bank post-bill, bill of exchange, or note of assignment of stock in the funds; any letter of attorney for receiving annuities or dividends, selling stock in the funds, or collecting the interest thereof; any letter of credit, note, bond, warrant, draft, bill, promissory note, covenant, contract, or agreement whatsoever for or relating to the payment of money, or the delivery of any article of value, or the performance of any act, matter, or thing; any receipt, release, acquittance, or discharge of or from any debt, covenant, or demand, or any part thereof; any copy of the record of any judgment or decree in any court of law or chancery, or any execution which may have issued thereon; any copy of any other record, or any other article of value, or writing representing the same; any such person who shall steal or take any of the things aforesaid out of any letter, packet, bag, or mail of letters which shall have come into his possession, either in the regular course of his official duties, or in any other manner whatever, and provided the same shall not have been delivered to the party to whom it is directed, every such person shall, on conviction thereof, for every such offense, be imprisoned at hard labor not less than one nor more than five years.' The words at the close of the section, 'every such person shall, on conviction thereof, for every such offense, be imprisoned,' are omitted in the revised section;...
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