An Act to authorize the Postmaster General to hold and detain mail for temporary periods in certain cases.
PL 84-821 (H.R.9842), enacted 07/27/1956

64 Stat. 451. 
N o t i c e of de* 
tention order. 
T
O STAT.] 
PUBLIC L
(
A
W 821-JULY 27, 1956 
Public Law 821 
CHAPTER 755 
AN ACT 
July 27, 1956 
To authorize the Postmaster General to hold and detain mail for temporary 
[H. R. 9842]— 
periods in certain cases. 
Be it enacted I>y the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That (a) whenever 
Ee"t*ent i7n*'*'of 
the Postmaster General shall determine during proceedings before mail-
him that in the administration of the Act of August 16, 1950 (39 
U. S. C. 259a), such action is necessary to the eflfective enforcement 
of such Act, he may enter an interim order directing that mail 
addressed to any person be held and detained by the postmaster at 
the post office of delivery for a period of twenty days from the 
effective date of such order. 
Notice of such order, advising such 
person of the holding and detention and setting forth in specific 
detail the reasons therefor, together with a copy of this Act, and 
the aforesaid Act of August 16, 1950, shall be sent forthwith by 
registered or certified mail to such person at the post office at which 
such mail is to be held and detained. 
Any such order for the holding 
Expiration date, 
and detention of mail addressed to any person shall expire at the 
end of the twenty days after the issuance thereof unless the Post-
master General shall file, prior to the expiration of such twenty-day 
period, a petition in the United States district court for the district cdLrt!****^*^"**" "' 
in which the post office in which such mail is held or detained is 
situated, and obtain an order directing that mail addressed to such 
person be held and detained for such further period as the court 
shall determine. 
Notice of the filing of any such petition shall be 
given forthwith by the clerk of the court in which such petition is 
filed to such person, at the post office at which the mail is being 
detained (or otherwise as the clerk of the court shall determine to 
be appropriate), and such person shall have five days in which to 
appear and show cause why such order should not issue. If, upon 
all the evidence before it, the court shall determine that the continued 
withholding and detention of mail addressed to such person is reason-
able and necessary to the effective enforcement of the Act of August 
16,1950, it shall forthwith issue an order directing that mail addressed 
to such person be held and detained by the postmaster at the office 
of delivery until conclusion of the proceeding by the Postmaster 
General or until further order of the court. 
If the court shall deter-
mine, upon all the evidence before it, that the continued withholding 
and detention of mail addressed to such person is not reasonable or 
necessary in the administration of such Act, it shall dismiss the peti-
tion and order all mail addressed to such person held or detained 
in any post office to be released forthwith for delivery. 
An appeal 
from the order of the court shall be allowed as in civil causes. Any 
Dissolution of 
order of the Postmaster General or of the district court, under this 
Act, may be dissolved by such court at any time for cause, including 
failure to conduct expeditiously the proceedings instituted against 
such person before the Postmaster General with respect to the Act 
of August 16,1950 (39 U. S. C. 259a). When, under any order herein to^elaminl m^i?" 
authorized to be issued by the Postmaster General or the district 
court, a person's mail is detained and held by the postmaster at the 
office of delivery, such person shall have the right to examine said 
mail and receive such mail as clearly is not connected with the alleged 
unlawful activity. 
(b) As used in this Act the term "person" means any individual, 
••Person", 
firm, corporation, company, partnership, or association. 
700 
PUBLIC LAW 82&-JULY 27, 1956 
[70 ST A T . 
Exemption. 
60 Stat. 237. 
5 u s e 1001 note. 
N o n a pplicabil-
Ity. 
61 Stat. 652. 
(c) Action by the Postmaster General in issuing the interim order 
provided for herein and petitioning for a continuance of such order 
under this Act, shall not be subject to the requirements of the Admin-
istrative Procedure Act (ch. 19, title 5, U. S. C ) . 
SEC. 2. The provisions of this Act shall not apply to mail addressed 
to publishers or distributors of publications which have entry as 
second-class matter under the Act of March 3, 1879, as amended 
(ch. 180, 20 Stat. 358; 39 U. S. C. 221, et. seq.), or to publishers or 
distributors of copyrighted books and other publications as to which 
certificate of registration of copyright has been issued under the copy-
right laws of the United States (title 17 U. S. C.). 
Approved July 27, 1956. 
Public Law 822 
CHAPTER 756 
JUly 27, 1956 
AN ACT 
[H. R. 8617] 
f
j
i
Q validate certain payments made to members and former members of the 
naval service. 
Naval service. 
A d d i t i o n a l pay 
for sea service. 
C r e d i t s in ac-
counts. 
Be it enacted hy the Sermte and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled^ That all payments 
of additional pay for sea duty made to enlisted members of the naval 
service who served on the United States Ship Sequoia (AG-23) from 
November 1,1950, through February 28,1954, and to those who served 
on vessels operating on the Great Lakes from November 1, 1950, 
through October 31,1953, are hereby validated. 
Any such member or 
former member who has made repayment to the United States of any 
amount so paid to him as additional pay for sea duty is entitled to 
have refunded to him the amount repaid. 
SEC. 2. The Comptroller General of the United States, or his desig-
nee, shall relieve disbursing officers, including special disbursing 
agents, of the United States from accountability or responsibility for 
any payments described in section 1 of this Act, and shall allow credits 
in the settlement of the accounts of those officers or agents for payments 
which are found to be free from fraud and collusion. 
SEC. 3. Appropriations available to the military department con-
cerned for the pay and allowances of military personnel are available 
for payments under this Act. 
Approved July 27, 1966. 
July 27,1956 
^ . R. 2121] 
Public Law 823 
CHAPTER 757 
AN ACT 
To provide for the relief of certain members of the Armed Forces who were 
required to pay certain transportation charges covering shipment of their 
household goods and personal effects upon return from overseas, and for other 
purposes. 
Armed Forces. 
Transportation 
charges. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives 
of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That any member of 
the Armed Forces who was transferred to a duty station outside the 
continental LTnited States or in Alaska under orders which relieved 
him from a duty station within the United States before July 10,1952, 
and who— 
(1) was transferred to any one or more other duty stations 
outside the continental United States or in Alaska after July 9, 
1952, and before his transfer back to the United States; or