18 U.S.C. § 1703 Delay Or Destruction of Mail Or Newspapers

• Library: United States Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.L. 118-34 (published on www.congress.gov on 12/26/2023), except for [P. L. 118-31]
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 18 U.S.C. § 1703

(a) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b) Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the office where he is employed; or

Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Cite as 18 U.S.C. § 1703

Source: June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 778; May 24, 1949, ch. 139, §37, 63 Stat. 95; Pub. L. 91-375, §6(j)(16), Aug. 12, 1970, 84 Stat. 778; Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII, §330016(1)(B), (G), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2146, 2147.

Notes from the Office of Law Revision Counsel

current through 5/22/2023

HISTORICAL AND REVISION NOTES

1948 ACT

Based on title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed., §§318, 319 (Mar. 4, 1909, ch. 321, §§195, 196, 35 Stat. 1125, 1126).

Section consolidated sections 318 and 319 of said title 18, U.S.C., 1940 ed. The embezzlement and theft provisions of each were incorporated in sections 1709 and 1710 of this title.