Postal Service v. Konan · ¶30

In fact, ordinary speakers used “miscarriage” to refer to problems with mail caused by intentional misconduct. When a mail pouch was “stolen,” a newspaper reported that the letters “[m]iscarried.”Kansas City Star, Oct. 20, 1911, p. 6A.When a priest failed to receive a summons because it was “burned by an ecclesiastic,” the headline read “His Letter Miscarried.”The Carbondale Leader, Jan. 3, 1893, p. 1.And when litigants’ documents failed to arrive, courts classified “miscarriage” of mail as an excuse, without any suggestion as to whether the carrier acted intentionally. See, e. g., Lake v. Lake, 63 Wyo. 375, 402, 182 P. 2d 824, 835 (1947) (per curiam); Wagner v. Lucas, 79 Okla. 231, 232–233, 193 P. 421, 422–423 (1920).We see no reason to suppose that these uses of “miscarriage” were extraordinary.

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