Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States
United States v. Kirby
74 U.S. (7 Wall.) 482
- Type
- Opinion
- Court
- Supreme Court of the United States
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
- Date
- 1869-04-15
- Topic
- general
How later courts describe this case
- holding that a statute forbidding knowing and willful obstruction of the mail contains an implicit exception permitting a local sheriff to arrest a mail carrier
- concluding that it would create an absurd result to apply a statute criminalizing “‘knowing[ly] and wilfully’ obstruct[ing] or retard[ing] (Continued
- concluding that it would create an absurd result to apply a statute criminalizing " 'knowing[ly] and wilfully' obstruct[ing] or retard[ing] the passage of the mail" to a sheriff's arrest of a mail carrier who was in the process of transporting mail
- noting that terms in a statute “should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence”
- arguing that statutory terms should be interpreted to avoid "injustice, oppression, oí-an absurd consequence”
- explaining that statutes should be read in light of common sense
- discussing application of common sense when the plain language of a law was not followed because doing so produced an absurd result
- charging a prisoner who breaks out of prison “when the prison is on fire”
Citator
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- Cited by
- 470 opinions
Headnotes
- Criminal Law & Procedure — Construction of Federal Mail Obstruction Statute A statute punishing the knowing and wilful obstruction or retardation of the passage of the mail or of its carrier applies only to persons who know that their acts will have that effect and perform them with the intention that such shall be their operation; the statute has no reference to acts lawful in themselves from the execution of which a temporary delay to the mails unavoidably follows.
- Criminal Law & Procedure — Mens Rea Where the acts which create the obstruction of the mail are in themselves unlawful, the intention to obstruct will be imputed to their author, although the attainment of other ends may have been his primary object.
- Municipal Law — Immunity from Civil Process All persons in the public service are exempt, as a matter of public policy, from arrest upon civil process while engaged in that service; civil process therefore furnishes no justification for the arrest of a carrier of the mail.
- Municipal Law — Arrest on Criminal Process No officer or employee of the United States is placed by his position, or the services he is called to perform, above responsibility to the legal tribunals of the country and to the ordinary processes for his arrest and detention when accused of felony in the forms prescribed by the Constitution and laws.
- Constitutional Law — Legislative Power It may be doubted whether it is competent for Congress to exempt the employees of the United States from arrest on criminal process from the state courts when the crimes charged against them are not merely mala prohibita but are mala in se; whether or not such legislation be constitutional, no intention to extend such exemption should be attributed to Congress unless clearly manifested by its language.
- Statutory Interpretation — Sensible Construction and Presumed Exceptions All laws should receive a sensible construction; general terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence, and it will always be presumed that the legislature intended exceptions to its language which would avoid results of that character, the reason of the law prevailing over its letter.
- Criminal Law & Procedure — Federal Mail Obstruction Statute Applied to Arrest of Mail Carrier The act of Congress which punishes the obstruction or retarding of the passage of the mail, or of its carrier, does not apply to a case of temporary detention of the mail caused by the arrest of the carrier upon an indictment for murder.
after stating the case, delivered the opiuion of the court, as follows:
There can be but one answer, in our judgment, to the questions certified to us. The statute of Congress by its terms applies only to persons who “ knowingly and wilfully” obstruct or retard the passage of the mail, or of its carrier; •that is, to those who know that the acts performed will have *486 that, effect, and perform them with the intention that such shall be their operation. When the acts which create the obstruction are in themselves unlawful, the intention to obstruct will be imputed to their author, although the attainment of other ends may have been his primary object. The statute has no reference to acts lawful in themselves, from tire execution of which a temporary delay to the mails unavoidably follows. All persons in the public service are exempt, as a matter of public policy, from arrest upon civil, process w’hile thus engaged. Process of that kind can, therefore, furnish no justification for the arrest of a carrier of the mail. This is all that is decided by the case of the' United States v. Harvey, * to which we are referred by the counsel of the government. The-rule is different when the process is issued upon a charge of felony. No officer or employee of the United States is placed by his position, or the services he is called to perform, above responsibility to the legal tribunals of the country, and to the ordinary processes for his arrest and detention, when accused of felouy, in the forms prescribed by the Constitution and laws. The public inconvenience which may occasionally follow from the temporary delay in the transmission of the mail caused ■ by. the arrest of its carriers upon such charges, is far less than that which would arise from extending to them the immunity for which the counsel of the government contends. Indeed, it may be doubted whether it is competent for Congress to exempt the employees of the United States from arrest on criminal process from the State courts, when the crimes charged against them are not merely míala prohibita, but are mala in se. But whether legislation of that character be constitutional or not, no intention to extend such exemption should be attributed to Congress unless clearly manifested by its language. All laws should receive, a sensible construction. General terms should be so limited in their application as not to lead to injustice, oppression, or an absurd consequence. It will always, therefore,' be presumed *487 that the legislature intended exceptions to its language, which would avoid results of this character. The reason of the law in such cases should prevail over its letter.
The common sense of man approves the judgment mentioned by Puftendorf, that the Bologniau law which enacted, “that whoever drew blood in the streets should be punished with the utmost severity,” did not extend to the surgeon who opened the vein of a person that fell down in the street iu. a fit. The same common sense accepts the ruling, cited by Plowden, that the statute of 1st Edward II, which enacts that a prisoner who breaks prison shall be guilty of felony, does not extend to a prisoner who breaks out when the prison is on fire — “ for he is not to be hanged because he would not stay to be burnt.” And we think that a like common sense will sanction the ruling we make, that the act of Congress which punishes the obstruction or retarding of the passage of the mail, or of its carrier, does not apply to a case of temporary detention of the mail caused by the arrest of the carrier upon au indictment for murder. *
The questions certified to us must be answered in. the negative ; and it is So ordered!
Mr. Justice MILLER, having been absent at the hearing, took no part in this order.