United States v. Kirby
Supreme Court of the United States
■ The defendants were indicted for knowingly and wilfully obstructing and retarding the passage of the mail and of a mail carrier, in the District Court for the District óf Kentucky. The case was certified to the Circuit Court for that district.
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■ The defendants were indicted for knowingly and wilfully obstructing and retarding the passage of the mail and of a mail carrier, in the District Court for the District óf Kentucky. The case was certified to the Circuit Court for that district. The indictment was founded upon the ninth section of the act of Congress, of March 3; 1825, “ to reduce into one the several acts establishing and' regulating the post office department,” which provides “ that, if any person shall knowingly and wilfully obstruct or retard the passage of the mail, or of any driver or carrier, or of any horse or…
1Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice FIELD,
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 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…
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