Slavens v. United States

Citations

• 196 U.S. 229
• 25 S. Ct. 229
• 49 L. Ed. 457
• 1905 U.S. LEXIS 896

Syllabus

<p>Under the mail contract in this case, which was made in pursuance of the Postal Laws and Regulations, and after the service had materially decreased by changed methods of transporting mail and the Postmaster General had offered the contractor, who had refused to accept it, the remaining work at a lower compensation, it was within the power of the Postmaster General to put an end to the contract by order of discontinuance, allowing one month’s pay as indemnity, and to relet the remaining service; the power to terminate the contract on allowing a month’s pay as indemnity was not predicated on an abandonment of the entire service. ■</p> <p>While the provisions in a similar contract that the contractor should perform without additional compensation all new or. changed service that the Postmaster General should order, might not be construed as extending to services of different character and not within the terms of the contract, where the changed service is to take the mail to and from street cars, met at crossings, instead of landings and stations, it comes within the power reserved to the Postmaster General and the contractor is not entitled to additional compensation therefor.</p> <p>In the absence of authority shown, a local postmaster has nó power or authority to contract in respect to mail messenger service, and is not the agent of nor can he bind the Government for that purpose, and if a contractor performs services which he protests against as not being within his contract, solely on the postmaster’s order, he is not entitled .to extra compensation therefor after his protest has been sustained and the service let to others.</p>