Hall v. United States

delivered the' opinion of the court.

Fiftéen hundred dollars, per annum are allowed to collectors, of internal revenue as . salary for their services and that of théir. deputies, to be paid quarterly.. Commissions, in addition to salary, are also allowed to such officers, to be computed upon the amounts by them respectively collected, paid over, and accounted for, under the instructions of the Treasury Department, as follows : Three per cent upon the first $100,000; one per centum upon all sums above $100,000, and not exceeding $400,000; and one-half of one per centum on all sums above $400,000. Such an officer may also keep and render to -the proper officers of the treasury-an account of his necessary and reasonable charges for stationery and blank-books used in the performance of his official duties, and for postage actually paid on letters and documents received or sent, and exclusively relating to official business; and, if the.account is approved by the proper accounting, officers, the collector is entitled to be paid for the same: but the provision is that no such .account shall be approved, unless it shall state the date and the particular items of every such expenditure, and shall be verified by the. oath or affirmation of the collector.

Two provisos are annexed to those enactments: (1;) That the

Sufficient appears to show that the principal defendant was duly appointed a collector of internal revenue under the act of Congress in that case made and provided, and that the foundation of the suit is the official bond given by the appointee for the faithful discharge of the duties of the office. Breaches of the conditions of the bond having been committed, as alleged, the United States commenced an action of debt in the District Court against the principal and his sureties, claiming the penalties of the bond. Service was made; and the' defendants appeared, and pleaded (1.) non est factum; (2.) peífórmance; (3.) set-off in the sum of $8,203.06 for money before that time advanced, paid, laid out, and expended by the defendant to and for the use of the plaintiffs, and at their instance, for the work and labor of the defendant and his servants, and deputies, done and performed by him, as’ such collector, for the plaintiffs, and at their instance a,nd request.

Claim is also made for the same sum in the same plea, upon the ground that it was due and owing to the defendant from the plaintiffs for commissions, expenses, and charges for extra services of himself and his servants, done and performed at the special instance and request of the plaintiffs.

Issue was joined by the plaintiffs upon the first plea; and to the second the plaintiffs reply,' and deny that the defendant has well and truly performed the conditions of the writing obligatory, aiid assign the following breaches: (1.) That he has not accounted for and paid over to the United States all the public moneys whien came into his hands, in compliance with the orders and regulations of the Secretary of the Treas

Both parties, having waived a trial by jury, went to trial before the court without a jury; and the finding and judgment were for the plaintiffs, in the sum of $11,517.63. Exceptions were filed by the defendants; and they sued out a writ of error, and removed the case into the Circuit Court.

Due settlement of the collector’s accounts had been made by the accounting officers oNthe treasury; and the plaintiffs, to^ support the issues on their part, introduced the certified transcript of the same, to which the defendants objected: but the court overruled the objection, and admitted the evidence; and . the defendants excepted. Said transcript included the statement of differences, and showed that the sum of $20,120 was the balance due from the collector.

Collections, it seems, had been made by the- officer, for fhe preceding year, amounting to $77,702.08; and it did not appear that he had been paid during that period any extra allowance above his salary and commissions, nor that any of the charges claimed as set-off had been credited in the séttlement of his accounts. Apart from that, it was admitted by the plaintiffs that the defendants had paid into court the sum of $11,435.17, which is to be deducted from the balance found due from the defendants by the accounting officers of the treasury.

Set-offs were claimed by the defendants, as follows:’ (1.) $5,010 paid by the collector, during the summer and fall of 1866, to sixteen deputy-collectors employed by him during that period in his district. (2.) $648 paid for the hire of clerks in his office during the quarter ending Sept. 30 of the same year. (3.) $1,100 paid for hire of clerks in making out his accounts and returns during that and the succeeding year.

Nothing being alleged to the contrary, it will be assumed that those several claims had been duly presented to the proper officers of the treasury, and that they had been’ finally disallowed. They were separately offered in evidence at the trial; and the ruling of the court in each instance was, that the same was properly rejected by the accounting officers of the treasury. Seasonable exception to the ruling of the court was taken by

Errors have not been assigned, as required by the rules of the eourt; but the course of the argument, as exhibited in the printed brief, warrants the conclusion that the only errors relied on are the rulings of the District Court, that the accounts filed in set-off were properly rejected by the accounting officers of the treasury. Defendant litigants had no right to file accounts in set-off. at common law; nor did they ever have that right until the passage of the. statute of 2 Geo. II., ch. 24, sect. 4, which enacted; in substance and effect, that, where there were mutual debts between the plaintiff and the defendant, one debt may be set against the other, and that such matter may be given in evidence under the general issue, or may be pleaded in bar, so that notice shall be given of the sum or debt intended to be offered in evidence. Chit, on Contr. 948.

Questions of the kind, where the United States are plaintiffs, must be determined wholly by the acts of Congress, as the local laws have no application in such cases. United States v. Eckf ord, 6 Wall. 490 ; United States v. Robeson, 9 Pet. 324 ; Conklin, Treat. 127.

Judgment-in such suits is required to be rendered at the return term, unless the' defendant shall, in open court, make oath or affirmation that he is equitably entitled to credits which had not been, previous to the commencement of the suit, submitted to the consideration of the accounting officers of the treasury and rejected, and specifying each particular claim so rejected in the affidavit. 1 Stat. 515 . United States v. Giles, 9 Cranch, 236 ; 5 Stat. 83 .

Sect. 4-of the same act provides, that, in suits between the United States .and individuals, no claim for a credit' shall be admitted at the trial, except such as shall appear to have been submitted to the accounting officers of the treasury for their examination, and to have been by them disallowed, unless it shall appear that the defendant, at the time of the trial, is in possession of vouchers not before in his power to procure, and that he was prevented from exhibiting a claim for such credit

Claims for credit in' suits against persons indebted to the United States, if it appears that the claim had previously been presented to the accounting officers of the treasury for their examination, and had been by them disallowed in whole or in part, may be admitted upon the trial of the suit; but it can only be admitted as a claim for-credit, and must be proved to be just and legal before it can be allowed. Equitable claims for credit, if falling within the latter clause of the fourth section of' that act, may be admitted at the trial of such a suit, •though never presented to and disallowed at the treasury; but the presentation of such a claim will 'amount to nothing, unless it is proved that the same is justly due to the claimant.

■ Due returns, it seems, were made by the collect ?. It is pot questioned that his accounts were regularly settled by the accounting officers of the treasury; nor is it suggested that due eredit was not given to him for every thing which he could properly claim, except for the extra services and expenses charged in the accounts filed in set-off; and it appears that those accounts- were duly presented to the accounting officers of the treasury, and were by them rejected before the suit was instituted. When the claims were offered, the court admitted the evidence; and th*e only complaint is, that the court ruled that -the claims were properly rejected by the accounting officers of the treasury, which is the only question presented for decision.

Independent of the second proviso to the section defining the compensation to be allowed to such collectors, it would be clear beyond every doubt that no claim of the kind could be allowed by any court, as appears from the acts of Congress upon the subject and the decisions of this' court. Legislation "upon the subject commenced with respect to collectors of the customs, but was ultimately extended to all executive officers with fixed salaries, or whose compensation was prescribed by law. Sect. 18 of the act of the 7th of May, 1822, provided that no collector, surveyor, or naval officer shall ever receive more than. $400 annually, exclusive of his compensation as such officer, and the fines and forfeitures allowed by law for any service he may render in any other office or capacity. '3-Stat. 696.

Litigations of the kind became frequent; and Congress again interfered, and provided that no officer in any branch of the public service, or any other person whose salary or whose pay or emoluments is or are fixed by law and regulations, shall receive any extra allowance-or compensation, in any form whatever, for the disbursement of public' money or the performance of any other service, unless the said extra allowance or compensation be authorized by law. 5 Stat. 349 .

" Since, then many other acts pf Congress have been passed upon the subject, of which one more only will be reproduced. Like the preceding act, it provides that no officer in any branch of the public service, or any other person whose salary, pay, or emoluments.is or are fixed by law or regulations, shall receive any additional pay, extra allowance, or compensation, in any form whatever, for the disbursement of public money, or for any other service or duty whatever, unless the same shall be authorized by law-; and the appropriation therefor is explicitly set forth that it is for such additional pay, extra allowance, or compensation. 5 Stat. 510 ; 9 id. 297, 365, 367, 504, 542, 548, 629; 10 id. 97-100,119, IS...

Compensation for extra services, where no certain sum is

None of the conditions precedent suggested existed in the case before the court;,and it follows that no such allowance could have been made by the accounting officers of the treasury in settling the accounts of the principal defendant, unless the same had been previously approved by the Secretary of the Treasury, under the second proviso in the twenty-fifth section of the act prescribing the compensation to be allowed to the collectors of internal revenue. 13 Stat. 232 .

Authority is there givén to the Secretary of the Treasury to make such further allowances to such collectors, from time to time, as may be reasonable; but the .power to be exercised in that behalf is one vested in his discretion, both as ijo time and amount. He may make an allowance one year, and refuse it the next, or he may never make it at all, ás to Kim may seem just and reasonable.. No appeal lieg "from: his decision in that regard, either to the accounting officers of the treasury or to the courts. Instead of that his decision is final, unless reverse^'by Congress. Judgment affirmed.