INSTRUCTIONS TO MARSHALS, ATTORNEYS, AND CLERKS OF THE UNITED STATES COURTS, ADOPTED BY THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. The supervisory control heretofore exercised by the Secretary of the Interior over the accounts of the district attorneys, marshals, clerks, and other officers of the courts of the United States, having been vested in the Attorney-General of the United States, by the fifteenth section of the act of Congress, approved June 22, 1870, establishing the Department of Justice, the following forms and instructions have been prepared for the guidance and government of marshals, attorneys, and clerks of the courts of the United States, in the performance of their duties touching the subjects therein referred to. CORRESPONDENCE. Officers in replying to Department letters will refer, in addition to the date and subject, to the initials in the upper left-hand corners of such letters. Official correspondence is regulated by the following decision: DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE, Washington, D. C., January 10, 1882. SIR: Your letter of the 22d ultimo, directing attention to certain papers therewith inclosed, and also to section 3915, Rev. Stats., sections 5 and 6 of the act of March 3, 1877, chapter 103, and section 29 of the act of March 3, 1879, chapter 180, requests an opinion upon the following questions: "First. Whether officers of the Government subordinate to this (the Interior) Department, appointed, not by the Secretary, but by the President, whose offices are located without the District of Columbia, of which Indian agents and registers and receivers of land offices may serve as examples, are departmental in their character, and therefore entitled to use the penalty envelopes in transmitting official mail matter, both to other offices or officers of the Government and to private persons? 181 "Second. If not departmental in their character, whether they are entitled to use the penalty envelope for the same purpose and to the same extent; or, if not thus entitled, what, precisely, are the restrictions upon their use imposed by the law? "Third. If the penalty envelope may not be used by such officers of the Government for transmission of all official mail matter both to other officers of the Government and to private parties, whether said officers are authorized to use official postage stamps for such purpose?" The provisions of sections 5 and 6 of the act of 1877, relating to the transmission of official mail matter, were examined by one of my predecessors soon after the passage of that act, with reference to the question whether the use of the penalty envelope, thereby authorized, was limited to the Executive Departments and the bureaus or offices therein, at the seat of government, or extended to officers throughout the coun. try, such as postmasters, collectors of internal revenue, registers of land offices, &c., between whom and these Departments an official relation exists. In the opinion then given it was held that the use of the envelope was by those provisions restricted to the Executive Departments and the bureaus or offices therein at the seat of government (15 Opin., 262). Afterwards, by section 29 of the act of 1879, the same provisions were "extended to all officers of the United States Government, and made applicable to all official mail matter transmitted between any of the officers of the United States, or between any such officer and either of the Executive Departments or officers of the Government, the envelopes of such matter in all cases to bear appropriate indorsements containing the proper designation of the office from which the same is transmitted, with a statement of the penalty for their misuse." This section, while impliedly confirming the construction placed on sections 5 and 6 of the act of 1877, as above, in effect, confers upon all officers of the United States the right to use the penalty envelope, but to a more limited extent than that given by those sections. Thus the right, as conferred, is explicitly confined to the transmission of official mail matter between such officers, or between any such officer and either of the Executive Departments or officers of the Government. Whereas, under the act of 1877, the Executive Departments and the bureaus or offices therein may use the penalty envelopes in transmitting to private persons, as well as to officials, any letter or package relating exclusively to the business of the Government. Coming now to the questions submitted, the result at which I arrive, as regards the use of the penalty envelope is that the officers described in your first question are not within the provisions of sections 5 and 6 of the act of 1877, viewing these sections alone, that is to say, irrespective of the act of 1879, but that they are brought within those provisions by section 29 of the latter act, their right to use the penalty envelope depending upon and being controlled by this section. To your first and second questions (which for convenience are taken together) I accordingly reply that in my opinion the officers referred to therein are entitled to use the penalty envelope for the transmission of official mail matter between themselves and other officers of the United States, or between themselves and the Executive Departments, but are not entitled to use such envelope for the transmission of mail matter to private persons. These officers, as already intimated, are not "departmental in their character," i. e., officers of the Executive Departments or of the bureaus or offices therein, as comprehended by sections 5 and 6 of the act of 1877. Their right to use the penalty envelope resting, as it does, upon section 29 of the act of 1879, cannot be extended beyond the limits thereby imposed. * * * I am, sir, very respectfully, Hon. S. J. KIRKWOOD, * BENJAMIN HARRIS BREWSTER, Attorney-General. Secretary of the Interior. INSTRUCTIONS AND FORMS FOR MARSHALS. MARSHALS. On taking the oath of office and filing their official bonds, all marshals will immediately advise this Department by letter to that effect. They will each, at the earliest practicable period, obtain from their respective predecessors in office the books and other property of the United States in their hands. Unless already furnished with them, each marshal will procure a wellbound docket, day-book, ledger, and letter-book, properly labeled and marked, inside and outside, "The property of the United States," with suitable indexes, for which he will be allowed on the settlement of his accounts. These books will be carefully preserved by the marshals, and handed to their successors. They will make minute entries in their dockets of the time of receiving and serving papers and process, and of whatever is done by them in United States cases of all kinds, with correct dates. The letter-books will contain full and true copies of all letters written by such officers officially, relating to suits or matters in which the United States are interested. In the day-books and ledgers full and accurate accounts will be kept of all moneys received and paid out on account of the United States. The entries in the dockets and account books will be so full, clear, and definite that they can be easily understood. All official letters relating to United States cases received by marshals, not needed by them as vouchers for the payment of money, will be preserved as public property, and delivered to their successors. Where the originals are essential to them as vouchers, they will leave copies in their places. Whenever such letters accumulate sufficiently to make a volume, the officer having them in possession will cause the same to be bound, according to their dates, and the expense thereof will be allowed in his accounts. Complete histories of all cases terminating in the conviction of the defendant, together with the description and past history of the prisoner, must be forwarded by the marshal to the Department of Justice upon the blanks furnished for that purpose immediately upon the completion of every criminal case. Accounts for the transportation of prisoners outside of a district must be rendered on criminal form No. 6 and forwarded to the Attorney-General for approval. Blanks will be furnished upon application to the Department. ADVANCES OF FUNDS FOR COURT EXPENSES. Advances to defray the expenses of holding the courts of the United States are made upon estimates furnished by the marshals, who are required to submit a separate one for each term, with a request for the remittance of the amount thereof. The requisition should be forwarded a sufficient length of time previous to the beginning of the term to enable the Department to place the amount in the marshal's hands on the opening day; but not so far in advance as to draw the money before it is actually needed. Upon receipt of such requisition at the Department, if the emolument returns are not in arrears, if all other returns required by law or regulations have been made, and if the state of the marshal's accounts at the Treasury do not preclude it, the amount required will be remitted. Each requisition must state explicitly the term and court for which the money is required, giving the date of beginning, and the number of days the term will probably continue; showing also, fully and in detail, by items, every anticipated expense. The following is the form of an estimate and request to meet the foregoing requirements: [State or Territory, district, residence, and date.] District of Hon. 188. Attorney-General U. S.: and SIR: The term of the court of the United States for this district will begin on the day of ——, 188—, at will probably continue days. It is estimated that there will be needed to defray the expenses of said term the sums specified within. Please cause a warrant to be issued in my favor for (with which I am to be charged on the books of the Treasury Department), and direct that a draft on for the amount be remitted to mè at Very respectfully, dollars |