in New York. However, statute law impliedly recognizes the
existence of the common law property rights in letters. For
example, letters may be copyrighted under the Federal
Copyright Statutes and the Penal Code in New York, Section
553, makes it a misdemeanor for any person to willfully and
without authority take a letter, telegram or private paper
belonging to another, or a copy thereof, and publish the
whole or any portion thereof, or publish it knowing it to
have been taken or copied without authority.
 
                        Exception to the Genearal Rule
 
            The extent of the proprietary rights, as between
the writer and the recipient of letters, depends on
implications raised b7 lain from the circumstances, and so, 
of course, the relative rights of the writer and the receiver 
may vary with different conditions. Thus there are at least three
well-defined exceptions to the general rule which are
recognized by the authorities.
 
             1. Where the writer is acting in the capacity
of an agent all property rights which he might otherwise
have to such letters belcng to his principal. This
exception was early recognized in England in Howard v. Gunn 
(l863) 32 Beav. 462, where the court in deciding adversely 
to a solicitor, who sought to restrain the publication of 
a letter he had written on the business of a company for 
which he was acting and on its behalf said:
 
             "I accede to the views of the plaintiff that                   
              a person has a property in letters written by him,                  
              and that this right cannot be violated by the                 
              person who receives them, but this, however, is                    
              subject to many exceptions and qualifications."
 
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