Stanley Forman Reed

“ Such circumstances weigh against a holding that the Congress intended to let a private user of the mails, wronged by the principal of a postmaster's bond, sue wherever he might find defendants and gain for himself such priority on the bond as vigilance could obtain. [18]
Apparently it is not customary for the United States to consent to suit by mail users upon postmasters' bonds. No case has been called to our attention where such permission has been granted though the requirement for a bond has been in existence since 1825. [19] Rarely has a private individual sought recovery. ”

“ We conclude in the present instance, however, that circumstances, practice, statutes and regulations combine to forbid reading into this situation a 'legal intendment' to permit suit without the consent of the United States. Assuming the bond declared upon here is intended to cover the users of mail service, its beneficiaries are legion in comparison with the users of a court's depository. Moreover, the United States has a very substantial interest in a postmaster's bond. The statutory duties of a postmaster require him to act as a fiscal officer for the government at his office. ”

“ The respondent gave a statutory bond in compliance with an enactment of the Congress for the purposes specified in the statute. [5] As the bond is part of an integrated system of postal regulations, the determination of the parties authorized to sue upon it is a federal question governed by federal law. [6]
We agree with the Court of Appeals that there was no consent and that such consent is necessary. Consequently there is no occasion to determine whether the bond was intended to protect private users of the mail from all loss or damage, however consequential, occasioned by the postmaster. ”