ACCOUNTS AND ACCOUNTING OFFICERS.
1. The Secretary of the Interior has legal power to define the principles
on which the accounting officers of the Treasury should settle and
adjust the accounts of a Superintendent of Indian Affairs, under a
special act of Congress, passed for his relief, directing the proper
accounting officers to settle with him on principles of equity and
justice," 108.
2. If an accounting officer refuse to comply with the lawful instructions
of the head of the proper Department, in respect to the settlement of
an account, the appropriate ultimate remedy is his removal. Ibid.
3. The President has no authority to perform personally the duties appro
priate to the office of an Auditor or Comptroller of the Treasury, but
it is his duty, and he has authority, to see that each performs the
duties required of him by law. Ibid.
4. The Secretary of the Interior has no power, without authority of law,
to reopen the accounts of a marshal, which have been adjusted by
the accounting officers of the Treasury, 129.
5. The President has no power to direct the accounting officers to reopen
such accounts after the Secretary of the Interior has refused an appli-
cation by the marshal for the reopening of them. Ibid.
6. The Secretary of the Interior is invested by law with exclusive super-
visory power over the accounts of United States marshals, and his
decision of questions connected with the settlement of such accounts
is the law of such settlement for the Executive Department of the
Government. Ibid.
1. The United States is legally bound to pay the allotment checks or
drafts issued by army paymasters under the act of December 24, 1861,
in the hands of bona fide holders, without regard to the fact that such
paymasters have not placed in the hands of the drawee sufficient funds
to meet the drafts, 156.
1. The War Department erred in disallowing the claim of Colonel Gates
for servants and forage for the months of August, September, Octo-
ber, and November, 1861, under the 20th section of the act of August
3, 1861, 70.
2. A retired officer of the army is not entitled to the full pay and emolu-
ments of his grade whilst not assigned to duty, 524.
1. The Attorney General has no power to give an official opinion on ques-
tions referred to him by the Secretary of the Treasury, at the request
of the Third Auditor, for the guidance, not of the Secretary, but of
the Third Auditor, in a case, under the act of March 3, 1849, chap.
129, which cannot come before the Secretary, 4.
2. The Attorney General will not give a speculative opinion on an abstract
question of law, which does not arise in any case presented for the
action of an Executive Department, 189.
3. Nor will he review the opinion of a former Attorney General, unless a
537
ATTORNEY GENERAL (Continued.)
proper case is presented therefor, and submitted by the head of a
Department. Ibid.
4. The Attorney General will not give an opinion as to the validity of
any exercise of jurisdiction by a court of the United States without
a full record of the case; and where a Department doubts the valid-
ity of such an exercise of jurisdiction, the Attorney General will
advise the head of the Department to raise the question before the
5. Attorney General declines to give an opinion on the right of Pacific
Railroad Company to issue mortgage bonds, at the request of its pres-
ident, 431.
1. The 21st section of the act of July 14, 1862, repeals so much of the
preceding laws as entitled the owners of goods remaining in bonded
warehouses beyond three years from the date of their importation to
claim the surplus of the proceeds of sale of such goods, 516.
2. The Secretary of the Treasury has no power to act upon such proceeds,
as in case of a fine, penalty, or forfeiture incurred under the act of
July 14, 1862. Ibid.
BONDS OF LOUISIANA SCHOOL-FUND.
1. These bonds should be restored to the State authorities, 502.
BOUNTIES.
1. The regulations of the War Department, in reference to the payment
of bounties to veterans mustered out of service before the expiration
of their term of enlistment, by reason of their service being no longer
required, have the force of law, by effect of joint resolutions of Janu-
ary 13, 1864, and March 3, 1864, 223.
2. A volunteer mustered into service under act of July 4, 1864, is entitled,
if mustered out for the above reason, before the expiration of his
period of service, to receive only the proportion of bounty allowed
by the act which had actually accrued before the date of his discharge.
Ibid.
3. Commissioned officers of volunteers, below the rank of brigadier gene-
ral, mustered out because their services are no longer required, are
entitled to receive "three months' pay proper," under the 4th section
of act of March 3, 1865, (13 Stats., 497,) 224.
1. The Secretary of the Navy has not authority, in all cases, to direct dis-
tribution of the proceeds of cotton found floating at sea and picked
up by vessels of the navy, 2.
2. General Gillmore, in command at Savannah, had authority, in April,
1865, to stipulate for the payment of a just compensation to rebel
deserters for the capture of a rebel vessel lying in an interior river,
and the stipulated compensation should be paid by the War Depart-
ment after the performance of the service and the delivery of the
vessel into the possession of the United States, 293.
3. A claim for the value of a vessel seized jure belli at New Orleans, upon
the capture of the city by the United States naval forces, turned over
to the army, and afterwards captured by the rebels, is not within the
jurisdiction conferred upon the Third Auditor by the act of March 3,
1849, 378.
4. Steamer St. Mary's or proceeds should not be restored to the claimant
under Executive sanction and authority, 416.
CAPTURED AND ABANDONED PROPERTY.
1. The Executive department of the Government has no power to appoint
a commission and confer upon it jurisdiction to examine the claims
CAPTURED AND ABANDONED PROPERTY (Continued.)
for the cotton captured at Savannah by the military authorities, in
December, 1864, and turned over by them to the Treasury agents
appointed under the provisions of the act of March 12, 1863, with a
view to the restoration of the proceeds of so much of the cotton as
may belong to loyal claimants; but the proceeds of the sale of all
such cotton should be paid into the Treasury, to await the action of
the Court of Claims and of Congress, 273.
2. There is no legal distinction between the case of the cotton claimed by
David Barrow and the case of the Savannah cotton, 319.
3. The criterion of a case of "captured" property, within the meaning
of the act of March 12, 1863, is the fact of actual and hostile seizure.
Ibid.
4. Property which was sold to the rebel authorities and captured by the
United States cannot be restored to the former owner on payment to
the Secretary of the Treasury of the consideration received from the
rebel government, 363.
5. A lot of cotton was seized by a Treasury agent in the belief that it was
the property of the rebel government. The proofs showed that it was
private property; that it was never captured by the military forces;
that it was not abandoned, or taken as captured or abandoned prop-
erty. Held: that the owner was entitled to restoration of the cotton,
478.
6. The seizure of the cotton, claimed by Rosencrantz and Merchant, on
May 13, 1865, under the order of General Canby, constituted a valid
capture, upon which the Court of Claims can alone adjudicate, under
the act of March 12, 1863, according to the principle of the case of
the Savannah cotton, 503.
7. Advice in regard to the proper disposition, by the Treasury Depart-
ment, of the gold coin claimed by certain Richmond banks on special
deposit with the United States Treasurer, 419.
1. Citizens of the United States who resigned commissions in the navy of
the United States and entered the rebel service did not lose their
citizenship by becoming traitors, and, if otherwise qualified, are com-
petent to be officers of vessels of the United States, 317.
1. A claimant of money payable from the Treasury has the right to choose
his own agents and attorneys for collection, and to change them at
pleasure, 7.
2. In the absence of special contract, fees or compensation, payable by a
claimant to his attorney, constitute a general charge against the
client, but not a specific lien on the subject-matter of the suit. Ibid.
3. The conflicting equities between a claimant and his attorney should be
left by the Executive department to be settled before the courts. Ibid.
4. The Secretary of the Interior has no legal power, after United States
notes have been made legal-tender by act of Congress, to pay a debt
of the United States in gold, 51.
5. An award under the convention with Peru, "payable in current money
of the United States," may legally be paid either in Treasury notes
or in specie, 52.
6. A court-one Provisional Justice" Smith-constituted under author-
ity of General Saxton, at Beaufort, South Carolina, rendered a judg
ment against a Government contractor in an attachment proceeding
instituted by a sub-contractor. An execution having issued thereon
to the provost marshal of the district, it was found that the property
attached had been used by Government officials in the construction
of a naval dock. The sub-contractor (plaintiff) claimed that he was
entitled, on the settlement of the accounts at the Navy Departinent,
to payment of the value of the property of the defendant which had
been attached and afterwards taken for the use of the Government.
Held: that 64
Provisional Justice" Smith had no legal existence as a
court, and that his judgment had no legal validity, and could not
control or govern the Navy Department in the settlement of the said
accounts, 86.
7. The holders of a United States note, which was stolen before maturity,
and, after an alteration by the thief of the number upon the note,
was transferred to the holders for a valuable consideration, and with-
out notice of the larceny, are entitled to receive payment of it from
the Government, 258.
8. An innocent holder of a "seven-thirty" Treasury-note, transferable by
delivery, which was stolen and transferred when past due, is entitled
to payment, as against the party from whom it was stolen, 332.
9. Beals and Dixon have no legal claim against the United States for an
increase of prices under their contract of January 1, 1857, 526.
COLONIZATION.
1. The appropriations made by the acts of April 16, 1862, and July 16,
1862, for the purpose of facilitating the colonization of persons of
African descent, cannot be used to pay the salary of the Commis-
sioner of Colonization" for services rendered after the passage of the
act of July 2, 1864, 241.
1. A person of African descent elected and commissioned by the Governor
of Massachusetts as chaplain of the 54th regiment of Massachusetts
volunteers, and duly mustered and accepted into the service of the
United States, is entitled to the full pay provided by law for the
chaplain of a volunteer regiment, 37.
2. No provision of law, constitutional or statutory, ever prohibited the
acceptance of "persons of African descent" into the military service
of the United States as private soldiers or as commissioned officers, if
otherwise qualified to be officers. Ibid.
3. The statutes prescribing the qualifications of chaplains in the army do
not preclude the appointment of a Christian minister to the office of
chaplain because he may be a person of African descent. Ibid.
4. The proviso to the 15th section of the act of July 17, 1862, chap. 201,
was not intended to fix the compensation of all "persons of African
descent," in the military service of the United States, but only of
those who might be employed for the humbler kinds of service men-
tioned in the act. Ibid.
5. The same pay, bounty, and clothing, are allowed by law to persons of
color, who were free on the 19th of April, 1861, and were enlisted and
mustered into the military service of the United States between De-
cember, 1862, and the 16th of June, 1864, as are, by the laws existing
at the time of the enlistment of such persons, authorized and provided
for and allowed to soldiers in our volunteer forces of like arms of the
service, 53.
6. "Under-cooks of African descent," enlisted under the authority of the
act of March 3, 1863, section 10, are not entitled to receive any other
and greater compensation than that provided by that statute, 193.
7. The classes of colored persons enfranchised after April 19, 1861, by
operation of acts of Congress and the emancipation proclamation,
and enlisted into the military service, who are entitled to bounty,
indicated, 365.
COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE WITH INSURRECTIONARY STATES.
1. Powers of the President in reference to the regulation of commercial
intercourse and relations under the statutes of July 13, 1861, and
July 2, 1864, 219.
COMMERCIAL INTERCOURSE, &c., (Continued.)
2. The proclamation of the President of June 13, 1865, removing restric-
tions generally upon trade with the States recently in insurrection,
and announcing the suppression of the rebellion in Tennessee, is law-
ful under the statutes of the United States, 269.
3. The proclamation of the President of June 24 1865, removing restric-
tions upon trade west of the Mississippi, took effect on and from the
day of its date, 436.
COMMISSARY AND SUBSISTENCE STORES.
1. The jurisdiction of the Commissary General, under the 3d section of the
act of July 4, 1864, extends only to claims for subsistence which
originated in the loyal States, 405
1. In the case of an account for professional services in the investigation
of the tle of land purchased by the Government, presented by coun-
sel employed to examine and give an opinion on the title, the proper
criterion for determining, in the absence of express contract, the
reasonableness of the account, is the charge made in cases of like
magnitude by lawyers of ability and reputation, or, if no such cases
have occurred, the amount which lawyers of learning, ability, and
reputation, equal to the duty, would charge for similar services, 349.
2. Claim of the counsel employed by the United States in the matter of
the extradition of the St. Albans raiders," for professional services,
considered, 360.
1. The payment of that debt by the United States or the States cannot be
prevented by legislation, 432.
1. The right of the United States to the property of persons within the pro-
visions of the confiscation act of July 17, 1862, is vested, co instanti,
on the commission of the offence which works the forfeiture, 288.
2. The property of Mrs. Johns is liable to confiscation, unless relieved there-
from by operation of a pardon granted by the President, 356.
1. The feees receivable by a consul for receiving and delivering a vessel's
register and other papers, under the act of 1803, are prescribed by
regulation of the President, 73.
2. The act of August 5, 1861, was merely intended to limit the amount of
fees payable annually to American consuls by the masters of Ameri-
can vessels running by regular trips to or between foreign ports. Ibid.
CONSULAR COURTS.
1. A United States consular court in Japan cannot, in the case of a suit
by a person not a citizen of the United States against an American
merchant, entertain a plea of set-off further than to the extent of the
claim asserted by the plaintiff, 474.
2. Such a court cannot, under the treaty with Japan and the statutes of
the United States, render a judgment against a person of foreign birth
not a citizen of the United States.
3. The consular courts of the United States at Honolulu have the right
and power, without interference from the local courts, to determine,
as between citizens of the United States, who comprise the crew of an
American vessel, and are bound to fulfill the obligations imposed by
the shipping articles, 508.
CONTRACTS AND CONTRACTORS.
1. Where a contractor had entered into two contracts with the Navy De-
partment and had fulfilled one of them, but failed to perform the
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