Postal Monopoly Laws : History and Development of the Monopoly on the Carriage of Mail and the Monopoly on Access to Mailboxes

The purpose of this study to provide a comprehensive account of the development and current status of federal laws that grant the United States Postal Service exclusive rights in the carriage of letters (the “postal monopoly”) and the delivery of mailable matter (the “mailbox monopoly”). US postal monopoly law is derived from the English postal act of 1660. This study describes, inter alia, incorporation of elements of the English law into the Postal Ordinance of 1782 by the Continental Congress; enactment in revised form in the Postal Act of 1792 (by the federal government established by the Constitution of 1788) and subsequent amendments; expansion of the monopoly by adoption of the “private express laws” in 1845; extension of the monopoly to local delivery services; revision and codification of the postal monopoly laws in 1872; disputes over the scope of the monopoly with the railroads in the 1890s and early 1900s; evolving interpretations of the monopoly by Attorneys General and the Post Office Department; enactment of the mailbox monopoly law in 1934 and amendment in 1938; the review of the monopoly and adoption of expansive regulations by the US Postal Service in 1973; amendments to the postal monopoly by the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act in 2006