Note 365 — Chapter V · The Power of the States to Interfere with the Mails

Nelson v. State, 25 Texas App. 599 (1888). In some states express exemptions are made for the transportation of the mail. Cf. State v. Norfolk & W. R. Co., 33 W. Va. 440 (1890). A typical Sunday observance statute is the following: “No person whatsoever shall work or do any bodily labor on the Lord’s day, commonly called Sunday; and no person having children or servants shall command, or wittingly or willingly suffer any of them to do any manner of work or labor on the Lord’s day (works of necessity and charity always excepted)” (Public General Laws of Maryland (ed. of 1904), art. xxvii, sec. 384). The general proposition that the state regulations do not apply to postal employees is supported by Commonwealth v. Knox, 6 Mass. 76 (1809), which held that it is not an indictable offence for a carrier of the mail to travel on Sunday. This exemption was not applied to passengers, “nor may he [the carrier] blow his horn to the disturbance of serious people.” An indictment did lie, however, against the chief justice of Massachusetts and his associates for travelling on Sunday (1793). See “Sunday Laws,” in 2 American Law Review, 226.