194 U.S. 106
SCOTUS
1904

Lead Opinion

Mr. Justice Brown

delivered the opinion of the court.

The first number of Masters in Music was issued in January, 1903, and an. application was immediately made, to the Postmaster General for its admission to the mails as second class mail matter. The application was deniеd, and plaintiff immediately, and before the issue of another number, filed this bill. The publication purports to be a “monthly magazine,” *107salable at twenty cents per number, and to subscribers. at. two dollars a year. The first numbеr is devoted to.the works, of Mozart and contains a portrait, a biography of four pages,, an essay of ten pages upon his art and thirtyrtwo pages of his: music. The preliminary page contained а -notice to' the effect, that “Masters.in Music will be unlike any other musical.magazine. Each monthly issue, complete in itself, will be devoted to one of the world’s great.musicians, giving thirty-two pages, of engraved piаno music, which will comprise those compositions or movements that represent the composer at his best,, with editorial notes suggesting the proper interpretation; a beautiful frontispiece portrait, a life, and estimates' of his genius and place in art, chosen from the writings of the most eminent, musical critics. The text will thus constitute am interesting and authoritative monthly lesson in musical his-, tory; its selections of music will form a library of the world’s, musical masterpieces, and all at slight cost. . . . The announcement of the contents of the February issue, which will treat of Chopin, will be found on another page.”

The Postmaster General placed his refusal to allow this, magazine to be transmitted as second class mail matter upon, the ground that each number was complete in itself ; hád no¡ connection with other numbers save in the circumstance that they all treated of masters in music, and that these issues were in fact sheet music disguised as a periodical, and should be classified as third class mail matter. , ,

Conceding the principle established in thе two cases just decided to be that the fact that books published .at stated intervals and in consecutive numbers do not thereby become, periodicals, even though in other respects they conform to the requirements of section 14, cases may still arisé where the classification of a certain publication may be one of , doubt. Such is this case. But wé think that, although the question is largely one of law, determinеd by a comparison of the exhibit” with the statute, there is some discretion left in the Postmaster. General with respect tcT the classification of such publications *108as mail matter, and that the exercise of such discretion .ought not to be interfered with unless the court be clearly of opinion that it was wrong. The Postmaster General is charged with the duty of examining these publications and of determining to which class of mail matter they properly belong; and we think his decision ‍​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‍should not be made the subject of judicial investigation in every case where one of the parties thereto is dissatisfied.. The consequence of a different rule would be that the court might be flooded by appeals of this kind to review the decision of the Postmaster General in every individual instance. In the case of American School of Magnetic Healing v. McAnnulty, 187 U. S. 94, 104, the Post Office authorities were held tо have acted beyond their authority in rejecting all correspondence which the plaintiff upon the subject of the treatment of diseases by mental action; but while it was said in that case that the questiоn involved was a legal one, it was intimated that something must be left to the discretion of the Postmaster General.

It has long been the settled practice of this court in land cases to treat the findings of the Land Department upon questions of fact as conclusive, although such proceedings involve, to a certain extent, the exercise of judicial power. . As was said in Burfenning v. Chicago, St. Paul &c. R. R., 163 U. S. 321, 323: “Whether, for instance, a-certain tract is swamp land or not, saline land or not,'mineral land or not, presents a question of fact not resting on record, dependent on oral testimony; and it cannot be doubted that the decision of the Land Department, one way or the other, in reference to these questions is conclusive' and not open to relitigation in the courts, except in those cases of fraud, etc., which permit any determination to be reexamined.” (Citing cases.) See also Johnson v. Drew, 171 U. S. 93; Gardner v. Bonestell, 180 U. S. 362.

But there is another class of cases in which the rule is somewhat differently, and perhaps more broadly, stated, and that is, that where Congress has committed tо the head of a department certain duties requiring the exercise of . judgment *109and discretion, his action thereon, whether it involve questions of law or fact, will not be reviewed by the courts, unless ‍​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‍he has excеeded Ms authority or this court should be of opinion that Ms action was clearly wrong. In the early case of Decatur v. Paulding, 14 Pet. 497, it was said that .the official duties of the head of an executive department,' whether imposеd by act of Congress or resolution, are not mere ministerial duties; and, as was said by this court in the recent case of Riverside Oil Co. v. Hitchcock, 190 U. S. 316, 324: “Whether he decided right or wrong is hot the question. Having jurisdiction to decide at all, he had necessarily jurisdiction, and it was his duty-to decide as he thought the law was, and the courts have no power whatever under those circumstances to review his determina^tion by mandamus or' injunction.”

In Marquez v. Frisbie, 101 U. S. 473, which was a bill in equity to review the deсision of the Land Department in a preemption ease, Mr. Justice Miller remarked (p. 476): “This means, and it is a sound principle, that where there is a mixed question ©f law and fact, and the court cannot so separate it. as to show clearly where the mistake of law is, the decision of the tribunal to which the law had confided the matter is conclusive.” In Gaines v. Thompson, 7 Wall. 347, it*was held that the court would no more interfere by injunction than by mandamus to control the action of the head of a department; and in United States ex rel. Dunlap v. Black, 128 U. S. 40, it was said that the courts will not interfere by mandamus with the executive officers of the Government in the exercise of their ordinary officiаl ‍​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‍duties-, even where those duties require an interpretation of the law, no appellate power being given them for that purpose. See also Redfield v. Windom, 137 U. S. 636.

The rule upon this subject may be summarized as follows: That where the decision of questions of fact is committed by Congress to the judgment and discretion of the head of a department, his decision thereon is conclusive;-and that even upon mixed questions of lav. and fact, or of law alone, his action will carry with it a strong presumption of its correctness,.and *110the courts jwill not ordinarily review it, although, they máy have the’ power, and will occasionally exercise the right оf so doing.

Upon this principle, and because we thought the quéstion involved one of law rather than of fact, and one. of great general importance, we have reviewed the action of the Postmaster Genera;! in holding serial novels to be books rather than periodicals; but it is not intended to intimate that in every case hereafter arising the question whether a certain publication shall be cоnsidered a book or a periodical shall be-reviewed by this court; In such'case the decision, of the; Post Office Department, rendered in the exercise of a reasonable discretion, will be treated as conclusive.

In the case of Masters in Music the question really is whether a pamphlet, complete in itself, treating of the works of a single master, with a greater part of the pamphlet, devoted to specimens of his genius, shall be controlled by the cover, which declared that these numbers will be issued monthly, aka certain subscription price per year. Although a, comparison of the exhibit with the statute may raise only a question of law, the action of the Postmaster General may have been, to a certain, extent, guided by extraneous information obtained by him, so that the question involved would nоt be found merely a question of law, but a mixed question of law and fact. While, as ■already observed/ the • question is one of doubt,' we .think the decision of the Postmaster General, who is vested by Congress' with the power tо exercise his judgment and discretion in the matter, should be accepted as. final. The decree of the Court of Appeals is therefore

Affirmed.





Dissenting Opinion

Me. Justice Harlan

(with whom concurred The Chief Justice) dissenting.

The Chief Justice and myself áre of opinion that the publication ‍​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‍here in question is second class mailable matter, and can*111not concur in the opinion and judgment of the court. Our reasons for dissenting are stated in the opinion .filed by us in Houghton v. Payne, just decided.

But there are some things in the- opinion of the court in this case to which we shall advert. It is said that the case is one of doubt. Now, fit was admitted at the bar by the Government that the publication known as “Masters in Music” would be carried in the mails as second сlass matter if the question be decided in accordance with the construction placed upon the statute by the Department .for more than, sixteen years continuously prior to the present ruling of thе Department. We had supposed it to be firmly, settled that the established practice of an Executive Department charged with the execution of a statute will be respected and followed — especially if it has been long continued — unless such practice rests upon a construction of the statute which is clearly and obviously wrong. In United States v. Philbrick, 120 U. S. 52, 59, which involved the construction placed by an Executive Department upon an act of Congress, this court said: “Since it is not clear that that construction was erroneous, it ought not now to be overturned.” So in United States v. Healey, 160 U. S. 136, 145, the court said that it would accept the uniform interpretation by the Interior Department of an act relating to the public lands, “as the true one, if, upon examining the statute, we found its meaning to be at all doubtful or obscure.” The authorities to that effect are numerous. Edwards’ Lessee v. Darby, 12 Wheat. 206; Hahn v. United States, 107 U. S. 402; United States v. Graham, 110 U. S. 219; Brown v. United States, 113 U. S. 568; United States v. Philbrick, 120 U. S. 52; United States v. Johnson, 124 U. S. 236; United States v. Hill, 120 U. S. 169; United States v. Finnell, 185 U. S. 236; United States v. Ala. G. S. R. R. Co., 142 U. S. 615; Hewitt v. Schultz, 180 U. S. 139, 157. Some of them are cited in ‍​‌‌‌‌​​​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​​​‌‌‌​‌​​‌​​‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌‍the opinion of .the court in Houghton v. Payne. The -rule of construction which this court has recognized for more than three-quarters of á century is now overthrown. For, it is adjudged that the prác*112ticе of the. Post. Office Department, covering a. period of sixteen years and more, need not be regarded in this case, although the construction of the statute in question is admitted to bp doubtful. We cannot give our assent to this view.