residence in serting the loyalty of any such person to the United States during such rebellion, shall be required to prove affirmatively that such person did, during said rebellion, consistently adhere to the United States, and did give no Voluntary aid or comfort to persons engaged in said rebellion; and rebel State to the voluntary residence of any such person in any place evidence of giv where, at any time during such residence, the rebel force ing aid, etc., to or organization held sway, shall be prima facie evidence that such person did give aid and comfort to said rebellion and to the persons engaged therein. be rebellion. Claimants terested in competent wit amined by SEC. 4. And be it further enacted, That no plaintiff or claimant, or any person from or through whom any such and persons inplaintiff or claimant derives his alleged title, claim, or claims to be inright against the United States, or any person interested in nesses; any such title, claim, or right shall be a competent witness in the court of claims in supporting any such title, claim, or right, and no testimony given by such plaintiff, claim- may be exant, or person shall be used: Provided, That the United United States. States shall, if they see cause, have the right to examine 1863, ch. 92, s. such plaintiff, claimant, or person as a witness under the regulations and with the privileges provided in section eight of the act passed March third, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, entitled "An act to amend an act to establish a court for the investigation of claims against the United States," approved February twenty-fourth, eighteen hundred and fifty-five. 8. Vol. xii, p. 766. AttorneyGeneral and as all suits in United States. ant attorneys office, salary, SEC. 5. And be it further enacted, That from and after the first day of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, gestants to the Attorney-General of the United States for the time prosecute, etc., being shall, with his assistants, attend to the prosecution Court of and defence of all matters and suits in the court of claims Claims for on behalf of the United States. There shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, two assistant attorneys-general, who shall Two assisthold their offices for four years respectively, unless sooner general authorlawfully removed, and whose salaries shall be four thou-ized; term of sand dollars each, per year, payable quarterly, and who etc. shall be in lieu of the solicitor, assistant solicitor, and deputy solicitor of the court of claims, and of the assistant attorney-general now provided for by law; and the existing offices of solicitor, assistant solicitor, and deputy, Offices of sosolicitor, of the court of claims, and of assistant attorney- ant and deputy general, are hereby abolished from and after the first day solicitor, and of July, eighteen hundred and sixty-eight. The Attor-torney-General ney-General shall have power to appoint two additional abolished. clerks of the fourth class, and one clerk at a salary not General may exceeding two thousand dollars, in his office. licitor, assist Assistant At Attorney appoint two additional clerks. General and against United SEC. 6. And be it further enacted, That it shall also be Attorneythe duty of the said Attorney-General and his assistants, assistants in in all cases brought against the United States in said certain suits court of claims founded upon any contract, agreement, States in Court or transaction with any executive department, or any call on Departbureau, officer, or agent of such department, or where the ments, etc. of Claims to bureaus, etc., Departments, matter or thing on which the claim is based shall have to furnish been passed upon and decided by any department, bustatement upon reau, or officer intrusted by law or department regula call of Attorney-General. tions with the settlement and adjustment of such claims, demands, or accounts, to transmit to said department, bureau, or officer, as aforesaid, a printed copy of the petition filed by the claimant in such case, with a request that the said department, bureau, or officer to whom the same shall be so transmitted as aforesaid, will furnish to said Attorney-General all facts, circumstances, and evidence touching said claim as is or may be in the possesStatement to sion or knowledge of the said department, bureau, or contain what; officer; and it shall be the duty of the said department, bureau, or officer to whom such petition may be transmitted and such request preferred as aforesaid, without delay, and within a reasonable time, to furnish said Attorney-General with a full statement of all the facts, information, and proofs which are or may be within the knowledge or in the possession of said department, buofficial docu- reau, or officer, relating to the claim aforesaid. ments and papers; department, etc.; of Congress; Such statement shall also contain a reference to or description of all official documents or papers, if any, as may or do furnish proof of facts referred to in said statement, or that may be necessary and proper for the defence of the United States against the said claim, together with the decisions of department, office, or place where the same is kept or may be procured. And if the said claim shall have been passed upon and decided by the said department, bureau, or officer, the statement or answer to be transmitted to said Attorney-General, as hereinbefore provided, shall succinctly state the reasons and principles upon which if upon acts such decision shall have been based. In all cases where such decision shall have been made upon any act of Congress, or upon any section or clause of such act, the same shall be cited specifically. And if any previous interpretation or construction shall have been given to such act, section, or clause, by the said department or bureau transmitting such statement, the same shall be set forth succinctly in said statement, and a copy of the opinion filed, if any, shall be annexed to such statement and transmitted with the same to the Attorney-General aforeupon regula said. And where any decision in the case shall have been ecutive Depart based upon any regulation of an executive department, or where such regulation shall or may, in the opinion of the department, bureau, or officer transmitting such statement, have any bearing upon the claim in suit, the same shall be distinctly referred to and quoted in extenso in the statement transmitted to said Attorney-General: Provided, however, That where there shall be pending in for a class of said court more than one case, or a class of cases, the defence to which shall rest upon the same facts, circumstances, and proofs, the said department, bureau, or officer shall only be required to certify and transmit one statement of the same, and such statement shall be held tions of an Ex ment. One state ment to suffice cases. to apply to all such classes of cases as if made out, certified, and transmitted in each case respectively. partments in etc., to Court of proceeded in as ant. Treasury may Claims for SEC. 7. And be it further enacted, That it shall and Heads of Demay be lawful for the head of any executive department, certain cases whenever any claim is made upon said department in- may send claim, volving disputed facts or controverted questions of law, Claims, to be where the amount in controversy exceeds three thousand though origidollars, or where the decision will affect a class of cases nally voluntarily commenced or furnish a precedent for the future action of any ex- there by claimecutive department in the adjustment of a class of cases, without regard to the amount involved in the particular case, or where any authority, right, privilege, or exemption is claimed or denied under the Constitution of the United States, to cause such claim, with all the vouchers, papers, proofs, and documents pertaining thereto, to be transmitted to the court of claims, and the same shall be there proceeded in as if originally commenced by the voluntary action of the claimant. And the Secretary of the Secretary of Treasury may, upon the certificate of any auditor or send accounts, comptroller of the treasury, direct any account, matter, etc., to Court of or claim of the character, amount, or class described or trial, etc. limited in this section to be transmitted, with all the vouchers, papers, documents, and proofs pertaining thereto, to the said court of claims, for trial and adjudication: Provided, however, That no case shall be re- Cases only to ferred by any head of a department unless it belongs to over which one of the several classes of cases to which, by reason of court would have jurisdicthe subject-matter and character, the said court of claims tion if commight, under existing laws, take jurisdiction on such menced by voluntary action of the claimant. And all the cases mentioned in this section which shall be transmitted by the head of any executive department, or upon the certificate of any auditor or comptroller, shall be proceeded in as other cases pending in said court, and shall, in all respects, be subject to the same rules and regulations; and appeals from the final judgments or decrees of said court therein to the Supreme Court of the United States shall be allowed in the manner now provided by law. The amount of the final judgments or decrees in such cases crees, how paid. so transmitted to said court, where rendered in favor of the claimants, shall in all cases be paid out of any specific appropriation applicable to the same, if any such there be; and where no such appropriation exists, the same shall be paid in the same manner as other judgments of said court. be referred, claimant. Proceedings in these cases. Final judgments and de Claims pend ing in other Court of prior suit is SEC. 8. And be it further enacted, That no person shall file or prosecute any claim or suit in the court of claims, courts not to be or an appeal therefrom, for or in respect to which he or prosecuted in any assignee of his shall have commenced and has pend- Claims unless ing any suit or process in any other court against any withdrawn, etc. officer or person who, at the time of the cause of action alleged in such suit or process arose, was in respect thereto acting or professing to act, mediately or immediately, under the authority of the United States, unless such suit laims it to Congress state ments rendered by said court, ment of judg etc. Repeal of in consistent laws. Claims grow ing out of treaties not cognizable therein. Notes of decisions by courts. or process, if now pending in such other court, shall be withdrawn or dismissed within thirty days after the passage of this act. SEC. 9. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the clerk of the said court of claims to transmit to Congress, at the commencement of every December session, a full and complete statement of all the judgments rendered by the said court for the previous year, stating the amounts thereof and the parties in whose favor rendered, together with a brief synopsis of the nature of the claims upon which said judgments have been rendered. SEC. 10. And be it further enacted, That all provisions of any act incompatible herewith be, and the same are hereby, repealed. APPROVED, June 25, 1868. NOTE. The Revised Statutes (Sec. 1066) declare that the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims shall not extend to claims "growing out of or dependent upon any treaty stipulation." The purpose is to prevent the court from interpreting and enforcing treaty obligations. NOTE. The Court of Claims held that the statute of limitations, which provides that claims against the Government shall be forever barred unless suit be brought "within six years after the claim first accrues," does not begin to run if there be no person in existence when the claim accrues who is qualified to sue upon it. (See 9th Court of Claims, Fulenweider's case, page 403.) The statute of limitations does not preclude jurisdiction of a captured and abandoned property case referred to the Court of Claims by either of the Houses of Congress. (See S. S. Webb & Company v. The United States, 20 C. Cls. R., p. 487). A voluntary acceptance by a claimant of a sum smaller than one claimed, as a full satisfaction of the whole, and acknowledging this in a receipt for the amount paid; the demand having been disputed for a long time, and the smaller sum accepted without objection or protest, is a bar to further claim. (United States v. Child & Co., 12 Wall., p. 232). 1. Congress alone can take a claim out of the operation of the statute of limitations. 2. Either of the Houses of Congress can authorize the judicial investigation of the facts relating to a claim which in 1883 was barred, but not a committee. 26 Court of Claims, Balmer v. The United States, page 82. NOTE. The following table indicates the magnitude of the claims which the Court of Claims has been called upon to investigate since 1867. As no such returns were made previous to that date, the amount of business transacted in the earlier years cannot be ascertained without considerable investigation; but it was no doubt about the same in proportion to that of subsequent years. SUMMARY OF LAWS OF WAR, PREPARED BY FRANCIS LIEBER, GENERAL ORDERS, WAR DEPARTMENT, No. 100. By order of the Secretary of War: INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE E. D. TOWNSEND, GOVERNMENT OF ARMIES OF THE SECTION I.-Martial law-Military jurisdiction-Military necessity-Retaliation. 1. A place, district, or country occupied by an enemy stands, in consequence of the occupation, under the mar tial law of the invading or occupying army, whether any proclamation declaring martial law, or any public warning to the inhabitants, has been issued or not. Martial law is the immediate and direct effect and consequence of occupation or conquest. The presence of a hostile army proclaims its martial law. |