Kendall v. United States

Decision Date05 March 1883
PartiesKENDALL v. UNITED STATES
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

T. W. Bartley, for appellant.

Sol. Gen. Phillips, for appellees.

HARLAN, J.

It is provided by the act of March 3, 1863, amending that of February 24, 1855, establishing the court of claims, 'that every claim against the United States, cognizable by the court of claims,'—that is, such as the government permits to be asserted against it by suit in that tribunal,—'shall be forever barred, unless the petition, setting forth a statement of the claim, be filed in the court or transmitted to it under the provisions of this [that] act within six years after the claim first accrues.' After providing that claims which had accued six years before the passage of that act shall not be barred if the petition be filed in, or transmitted to, the court within three years after the passage of that act, and after declaring that the claims of married women, first accrued during marriage, of persons under the age of 21 years, and persons beyond the seas at the time the claim accrued, entitled to the claim, shall not be barred if the petition be filed in court or transmitted within three years after the disability has ceased, the statute proceeds: 'But no other disability than those enumerated shall prevent any claim from being barred, nor shall any of the said disabilities operate cumulatively.' 12 St. p. 767, § 10.

The same statute also provides that, in order to authorize a judgment in favor of any citizen of the United States, it shall be set forth in the petition that the claimant, and the original and every prior owner thereof, where the claim has been assigned, has at all times borne true allegiance to the government of the United States, and, whether a citizen or not, that he has not in any way voluntarily aided, abetted, or given encouragement to the rebellion against the government, which allegation may be traversed by the government; and if on trial such issue shall be decided against the claimant, his petition shall be dismissed. Id. 767.

Appellant's claim arose on or about the last day of December, 1865. His petition was not filed within six years from that date, and not until November 22, 1872. The government pleaded limitation, and the petition was dismissed upon the ground that the claim was barred.

Claimant was engaged in the service of the insurgent government, but he insists that in virtue of the amnesty proclamation of December 25, 1868, his disabilities were removed, and his rights, privileges, and immunities, under the constitution, restored. His specific contention is that, within the true meaning of the statute, his claim was not cognizable by the...

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    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Missouri
    • August 4, 1962
    ...in an additional exception. Soriano v. United States, 352 U.S. 270, 77 S.Ct. 269, 1 L.Ed.2d 306 (1957); Kendall v. United States, 107 U.S. 123, 125, 2 S.Ct. 277, 27 L.Ed. 437 (1883). III Section 4B, being a substantive part of the statute creating a cause of action, extinguishes the cause o......
  • Nager Electric Company, Inc. v. United States
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    ...and cannot be waived, varied, or lengthened except in accordance with an Act of the Congress. See, e. g., Kendall v. United States, 107 U.S. 123, 125, 2 S.Ct. 277, 27 L.Ed. 437 (1882) (plaintiff unable to sue by reason of aid he gave to the Confederate side); Finn v. United States, 123 U.S.......
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    ...recognized by the Court, United States v. De la Maza Arrendondo, 6 Pet. 691, 724, 8 L.Ed. 547 (1832); Kendall v. United States, 107 U.S. 123, 125, 2 S.Ct. 277, 278, 27 L.Ed. 437 (1883); Neuberger v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, 311 U.S. 83, 88, 61 S.Ct. 97, 101, 85 L.Ed. 58 (1940). ...
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    • September 9, 1993
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