United States v. Harmon

delivered the ópinion of the court. .

This is a suit brought in the Circuit Court of the United States for the District of Maine, February 7, 1890, by Charles B. Harmon against the United States, under the act of March 3, 1887, c. 359, ( 21 Stat. 505 ,) to recover $1770.60 as fees and disbursements of Harmon while marshal of the United States for that district, from March 9,1886, to October 1, 1888, which were included in his account presented to the District Court, proved to its satisfaction by his oath, approved by it, forwarded to the First Auditor of the Treasury and by him to the First Comptroller, and disallowed by the latter, the items of the same being set forth in detail in schedules annexed to the petition.

The United States, )by a plea in the nature of non assum/psit, put in issue the plaintiff’s right to recover. The suit, under the requirement bf § 2 of the act of 1887, was tried by the court without a jury.

There was filed the following admission in writing) signed by the district attorney'of the United States: “In the above-entitled cause it is admitted, on behalf of respondent, that the services charged in the petition and schedules:-were actually rendered ; that the disbursements charged were actually made in lawful money; and that the sums charged as paid to witnesses were actually and in every instance paid upon orders issued in due form, either by court or a commissioner of the Circuit Court, in the respective cases.” ,

The case, as now presented before ús, involves only items

There was filed, before the hearing, an “ agreed statement of facts,” signed by the attorneys for both parties, the only parts of which that it is important to recite being as follows:

“ First. —, As to jurisdiction:

“That of the total amount claimed by petitioner, items amounting to $110.32 were disallowed by the First Comptroller, prior to March 3, 1887.

“ Second. — As to the items claimed :

. “ That they are correctly classified and set forth in the abstract off schedules annexed to brief of petitioner.

“ Third. —As to the several classes of claims: ”

“2. Distributing vetoes, marshal’s fees, $186.

“That, if the marshal is entitled to a fee of $2 for each venire distributed to the several constables, he is entitled to the amount claimed,-but it is claimed by respondent that said amount was erroneously charged in the marshal’s account as mileage, and was for that reason, disallowed by the Comptroller.

: “ 3. Paid for blanks for IT. S.-attorney, $14

• “ That upon requisition of the U. S. attorney, approved by the Attorney General, this amount was paid-by the marshal for blank indictments’and informations for the necessary use of the' IT. S. attorney. That a similar charge has since been allowed by the Comptroller.

“4 Marshal’s travel to attend court, $156.60.

“ That of the amount claimed, $118.80 is for travel to attend regular terms of the Circuit and District Courts, and .that one travel; $1.80, has been allowed and paid to the marshal for travel-at each of .said terms.

“ That said $118.80 is charged for travel on days when said courts were held by adjournment over an intervening day, and were not held on consecutive days.

“ That the remaining sum of $37.80 is charged for travel to attend 21 special courts or special term’s of the District Court. That the docket of the District Court shows that said 21 special courts or special terms were duly held.

“ That this charge for two days at $2 was disallowed by the First Comptroller solely because he claimed it was not charged in the proper account.

“ 6. Travel to serve precepts, $237.60.

“ That in some instances the officer- had in his hands for service several precepts against different persons for different causes, and made service of two or more of such precepts in the course of one trip, making but one travel to the most remote point of service, but charging full travel on each precept. The following item, viz.:

“ ‘ 1886, April 24. • In U. S. v. Jeffrey Gerroir, travel to serve subpoena from Circuit Court, Massachusetts District, at Cranberry Isle, 314 miles, $18.84,’

is suspended by Comptroller because the only actual travel was from Portland to Cranberry Isle, say 206 miles. If travel as charged is not to be allowed, then this charge should be for 206 miles, $12.36. That in serving a warrant of removal (in every instance within this district) or warrant to commit, the marshal has charged travel, while the'Comptroller claims that, transportation of officer’ and prisoner being allowed, no travel can be charged.”

“ 9. Transporting prisoners to and from court, $78.

“That this amount was actually paid for' hack, hire in accordance with the usual practice, and that the charge had always before been allowed. The Comptroller claims that the amount was excessive and the use of hacks unnecessary.”

“ Fourth. — As to the allegations in the petition:

“That the marshal duly rendered his accounts as stated, and that the same were duly presented to the court and approved and forwarded to the accounting officer of the Treasury, as alleged.”

The case was tried before Mr. Justice Gray and Judge Colt, Circuit Judge, and the opinion of the court was given by Mr; Justice Gray. 43 Fed. Eep. 560. The court found for the petitioner,for the whole of his claim except $6.48, and rendered'judgment in his favor for $1704.12 and $59.15 costs. It also, in pursuance of § 7 of the act of 1887, specifically

A material question in the case is, whether the Circuit Court had jurisdiction to pass upon those items of the claim, amounting to $140.32, which were disallowed by the First Comptroller, before March 3, 1887. By § 2 of the act of that date, the Circuit and District Courts of the United States are vested with concurrent jurisdiction (within ■ certain limits as to amount) of .all matters which, by § 1 of the act, “ the' Court of Claims shall have jurisdiction to hear and determine,” including “all ■claims founded upon the Constitution of the United States or any law of Congress, except for pensions, or upon any regular tion of an executive department, or upon any .contract, expressed or implied, with.-the government of the United States, or for damages, liquidated or unliquidated, in cases.not sounding in tort, in respect of which claims the party would be entitled to redress against the United States, either in a court ,of law, equity or admiralty, if the United States were suable: ■Provided) however, that nothing in this section shall be construed as giving to either of the courts herein mentioned jurisdiction to hear and determine claims growing out of the late civil war, and commonly known as ‘ war claims,’ or to hear ■and determine other claims which have heretofore been rejected, or reported on adversely, by any court, department or commission authorized to hear and determine the same.”

■ The question is, whether claims disallowed by the First Comptroller prior to March 3,’ 1887, were claims which, under '§ 1 of the act of that date, had been, prior to its passage, “ rejected or reported on- adversely, by any court, department- or commission authorized to hear and determine the same.”

It is contended for the United States, that, except where Congress, by special law, empowers some court or executive .officer to hear and determine a claim' against the United States, the accounting officers of the Treasury Department alone have the power to hear and determine it; that under § 236 of the Revised Statutes, “all claims, and demands, whether ;by the United States or against them, and all ac

But we concur with the views of the Circuit Court on this point, which, in its opinion delivered by Mr. Justice Gray, are expressed as follows: “ Upon the quéstion whether a disallowance of an account by the First Comptroller of the Treasury is within ,the latter part of this proviso, there has been a diversity of judicial opinion. The Circuit Court for. the Eastern District of Missouri held that it was, and its decision was followed by the District Court in this district, as well as in the Eastern District of Missouri. Bliss v. United States, 34 Fed. Rep. 781 ; Rand v. United States, 36 Fed. Rep. 671 ; Preston v. United States, 37 Fed. Rep. 417 . But the opposite view has

“ The earlier decisions are based upon § 269 of the Revised Statutes, by which it is made the duty of the First Comptroller ‘ to superintend the adjustment and preservation of the public accounts subject to his revision;5 and upon § 191, which is as follows: ‘ The balances which may from, time to time be stated by the Auditor and certified to the heads of departments by the Commissioner of Customs, or the Comptrollers of the Treasury, upon the settlement of public accounts, shall not be subject to ‘be changed or modified by the heads of departments, but shall be conclusive upon the executive branch of the government, and 'be subject to revision only by Congress or the proper courts. The head of the proper department, before signing a warrant for any balance certified to him by a Comptroller, may, however, submit to such Comptroller any facts in his judgment affecting the correctness of such balance, but the decision of the Comptroller thereon, shall be final and conclusive, as hereinbefore provided.’

“ The clause of § 269, as to the general duty of the Comptroller to superintend the adjustment and preservation of public accounts subject to his revision, is a reenactmént of a provision of earlier acts, .reaching back to the foundation of the government. Acts of September 2,1789, c. 12, § 3, 1 Stat. 66 ; March 3, 1817, c. 45, § 8, 3 Stat. 367 ; March 3, 1849, e. 108, § 12, 9 Stat. 396 .

“ Section 191 is a-reenactment of the act of March 30, 1868, c. 36, 15 Stat. 54 . 'Before that act it was settled by a series of opinions of successive Attorneys General that the action of the Compti’oller, or of the Commissioner of Customs, was subject to the revision of heads of departments. See Opinion of Attorney General Stanbery, of September 15,1866, and earlier opinions therein referred to. 12 Opinions of Attorneys General, 43. The action of accounting officers of an executive department was never considered as a conclusive determination when the question was brought before a court of justice. Acts

“ The sole purpose and effect of the act of 1868 were to regulate the business of the executive departments; to define the comparative powers of the Comptrollers or the Commissioner of Customs on the one hand, and of the heads of departments on the other, in the performance of their executive and ministerial duties; and to make the decision of a Comptroller or of the Commissioner of Customs final and conclusive, so, far as the executive department was concerned, but not to affect the powers of the legislature or of the judiciary. 13 Opinions of Attorneys General, 5; 14 Opinions of Attorneys General, 65; 15 Opinions of Attorneys General, 192, 596, 626; Delaware Steamboat Co. v. United States, 5 C. Cl. 55.

“ The act itself, after providing that the balances certified to the heads of departments by the Comptroller, or by the Commissioner of Customs, upon the settlement of public accounts, shall not be subject to be changed or modified by the heads of departments, but shall be ‘ conclusive upon the executive branch of the government,’ adds in equally unequivocal terms, ‘ and be subject to revision only by Congress or the proper courts; ’ and the further provision, which makes the decision of the Comptroller upon facts submitted to him by the head of a department ‘final and conclusive,’ reserves the legislative and the judicial authority with equal clearness by the qualifying words ‘ as hereinbefore provided.’’ Act of March 30, 1868, e. 36, 15 Stat. 54 ; Eev. Stat. § 191.

“ The judgments of the Court of Claims, and of the Supreme Court on appeal from, its decisions, accord with this view, and •uniformly treat the action of the accounting officers as not conclusive in a suit between the United States and the individual. McE lrath v. United States, 12 C. Cl. 201, and 102 U. S. 426 , 441; Chorpenning v. United States, 11 C. Cl. 625, and 94 U. S. 397 , 399; Pittsburg Savings Bank v. United States, 16 C. Cl. 335, 351, 352, and 104 U. S. 728 , 734; Wallace

“In § 1 of the act of March 3, 1887, c. 359, the words ‘hear and determine’ are used four times; once as applied to the Court of Glaims, twice as applied to that court and to the Circuit and District Courts, and again as applied to ‘any court, department or commission.’ These words must be taken to be used in each instance in the same sense, and as implying an adjudication conclusive as between the parties, in the nature of a judgment or award. The proviso that nothing in this section shall be construed as giving to either of the courts named in the act jurisdiction to hear and determine any claims ‘which have heretofore been rejected, or reported on: adversely, by any court, department or commission author-' ized to hear and determine the same’ must be limited to a rejection of a claim, or an adverse report thereon, by a court, department or commission, which determines the rights of the parties, such as the approval by the Secretary of the Treasury of an account of expenses under the captured and abandoned property acts, as in United States v. Johnston, 124 U. S. 236 , or the decision of an international commission, as in Meade v. United States, 9 Wall. 691 .

“ Moreover, the Court of Claims, even before the passage of the act of 1887, had jurisdiction of claims under an act of Congress or un/Jer a contract, and could therefore hear and determine claims for legal salaries or fees. Mitchell v. United States, 18 C. Cl. 281, and 109 U. S. 146 ; Adams v. United States, 20 C. Cl. 115; United States v. McDonald, 128 U. S. 471 ; United States v. Jones, 131 U. S. 1 , 16.

“We cannot believe that the act of 1887^entitled ‘An act to provide fpr the bringing of suits against the government of the United States,’ and the manifest scope and purpose of which are to extend the liability of the government to be sued, was intended to take away a jurisdiction already existing, and to give to the' decisions of accounting officers an authority and effect which they never had before.”

Item 2 is as follows': “Distributing venires, marshal’s fees, $186.” As to this item, the agreed statement of' facts says:

'..Item'3 is as'follows: “Paid for blanks for U. S. attorney, $14.” As to this item 3, .the agreed statement of. facts' says : “That upon requisition of the U. -S."attorney, approved by the Attorney General,-this amount .was paid by the marshal for blaQk indictments and informations for the necessary use of. the U. S^_ attorney. That a similar charge has since been allowed by the Comptroller.” As to this' item 3, the Circuit Court says : “ The sums paid by the marshal, upon the requisition of the district attorney, approved by the Attorney General, for blank indictments and informations for the necessary use of the district attorney, having been paid by the marshal with the approval of the Attorney General, exercising the general supervisory' power conferred by Rev. Stat. § 368, the marshal is entitled to be repaid those sums.” All that the counsel for the United States says, in regard to item 3, is, that the item is payable only out of the earnings of the district attorney and -is a part of his office expenses, and that the marshal cannot be allowed credit for that item,.because there

Item 4 is as follows: “ Marshal’s travel to attend court, $156.60.” As to this item 4, the agreed statement of facts says: “ Of the amount claimed $118.80 is for travel to attend regular terms of the Circuit and District Courts; and one travel, $1.80, has been allowed and paid to the marshal for travel at each of said terms. That said $118.80 is charged for travel on days when said courts were held by adjournment over an intervening day, and were not held on consecutive. days. That the remaining sum of $37.80 is charged for travel to attend twenty-one special courts or special terms of the District Court. That the docket of the District Court shows that said twenty-one special courts or speciál terms were duly held.” As to this item 4, the Circuit Court says: “ By the Kev. Stat. § 829, cl. 24, the marshal is to be allowed ‘ for travelling from his residence to the place of holding court, to attend a term thereof, ten cents a mile for going only.’ This allowance is not expressly, or by any reasonable implication, restricted to a single travel at each term, but extends to every time when he may be expected to travel from his home to attend a term of court. If the court sits for any number of days in succession, he should continue in attendance, and is entitled to only one travel. But, if the court is adjourned over one or more intervening days, he is not obliged to remain at his own expense at the.place of holding court but may return to his home, and charge travel for going anew to attend the term ■ at the day to which it is adjourned. His right to charge travel .for going to each special court or special term is, if possible,, still clearer, and is scarcely contested.” ‘'The counsel for the United States says that this item is for mileage of the marshal for travelling' more than once from his residence to attend a term of court, and is for travel caused by temporary adjournments of the court for a day or two during a term thereof, the marshal preferring to go home rather than. to remain at his own expense at the place of holding the court; that a fair reading of § 829 of the Kevised Statutes forbids more than one mileage for going to attend a term of court;

Item 5 reads as follows: “ Expenses endeavoring to arrest, $4.” As to this item 5, the agreed statement of facts says : “ That this charge for two days at $2 was disallowed by the First Comptroller solely because he claimed it was not charged in the proper account.” As to item 5, the Circuit Court says: “ The charge for expenses in endeavoring to make an arrest was no more than the statute permits to be allowed. Kev. Stat. § 829, cl. 18.” As to this item 5, the counsel for the United States says that the finding is defective; that it is not shown that the expenses amounted to $2 a day; and that the fee bill allows necessary expenses only, and not exceeding $2 a day. We think the item is covered by the admission that the services charged in the petition were actually rendered and that the disbursements charged were actually made in lawful money. This $4 is for “ expenses.”

Item 6 is as foliowstc Travel to serve precepts, $237.60.” In regard to item 6, the agreed statement of facts says: “ That in some instances the officer had in his hands for service several precepts against different persons for different causes, and made service of two or more of such precepts in the course of one trip, making but one travel to the most remote point of service, but charging full travel on each precept. The follow^ ing item, viz.: ‘1886, April 24. In U. S. v. Jeffrey Gerroir,, travel to serve subpoena from Circuit Court, Massachusetts'’. District, at Cranberry Isle, 314 miles, $18.84,’ is suspended by Comptroller because the only actual travel was from Portland to Cranberry Isle, say 206 miles. If travel as charged is not to be allowed, then this charge should be for 206 miles, $12.36. That in serving a warrant of removal (in every instance within this district) or warrant to commit, the marshal has

Item 9 is as follows: “ Transporting prisoners to and from court, $78.” In regard to item 9, the agreed statement of facts says: “ That this amount was actually paid for hack hire in accordance with the usual practice, and that the charge had always before been allowed. The Comptroller claims that the amount was excessive and the use of hacks unnecessary.”. In regard to item 9,- the Circuit Court says: “ The hire of hacks to transport prisoners to and from court is agreed to have been in accordance with the usual practice, and to have always before been allowed, and must be presumed to have been required by the court for the'prompt despatch of business.”' The counsel for the United. States claims that it is contrary to law to allow that item; and that the service is covered by the per diem fee of $5 for attending court- and bringing in and

It is also contended by the counsel for the United States that the Circuit Court erred in rendering its judgment in favor of the. plaintiff for $1764.12, in the absence of a finding that the payment of that sum would not exceed the maximum compensation of the plaintiff as United States marshal, and the proper expenses of his office. But we think that is a matter which still remains open for adjustment at the Treasury Department.

The Circuit Court, under the discretión given to it by § 15 of the act of 1887, c. 359, 24 Stat. 51 )5, '508, awarded to the plaintiff $59.15 costs, “considering the frivolous and vexatious nature of the objections taken to the greater patt” of his claim. The items of costs allowed are not objected to, and do not appear in the record sent up. It must be assumed that the costs were taxed in accordance with the statute, which says that the costs “ shall include only what is actually incurred for witnesses, and for summoning the same, and fees paid to the clerk of the court.”

Judgment affirmed.