Clark v. United States
| Decision Date | 01 October 1877 |
| Citation | 95 U.S. 539,24 L.Ed. 518 |
| Parties | CLARK v. UNITED STATES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the Court of Claims.
This is a claim against the United States for the value of a steamer lost in the government service in September, 1865, and for her use for eight days before the loss occurred, at $150 per day.
The Court of Claims found the following facts:——
1. In September, 1865, at Brownsville, Texas, the claimant and Major O. O. Potter, an officer in the Quartermaster's Department, entered into an oral agreement, with the approval of General Steele, commanding the western division of Texas. The agreement was that the Quartermaster's Department should pay the claimant $150 a day for the use of the steamer 'Belle;' but no specific contract was made, or to be made, as to time, until she had made a trial trip from Brownsville to Ringgold Barracks and return, to prove her ability to perform the service for which the Quartermaster's Department needed a steamer; and, if she made a satisfactory trial trip, the parties were then to enter into a formal written contract for her future use at the same price per day. It was also at the same time agreed orally that the Quartermaster's Department was to run the steamer on her trial trip at the expense of the government, and that if she were lost on her trial trip the government should pay for her whatever three disinterested men should estimate her value to be.
2. Under this agreement the claimant delivered the steamer to the Quartermaster's Department, at Brownsville. The quartermaster then put his own captain and crew on the vessel, and sent her to Ringgold Barracks. On her voyage, while thus in the service of the government, she was wrecked, and proved a total loss. Three disinterested persons were then agreed upon and requested by Major Potter and the claimant to appraise the value of the vessel. They so acted, and, by a written award, found the vessel to be of the value of $60,000. The claimant has also proved by evidence other than the award that $60,000 was the reasonable value of the vessel. The steamer was in the service of the government before her loss eight days. The United States has not paid for the value of the vessel nor for her service.
3. The steamer 'Belle' was previously owned by, and in the military possession of, the Confederate government. The claimant acquired his title to her about the year 1863, taking her in part payment of a claim he held for supplies furnished by him to the Confederate Quartermaster's Department. At the time she was chartered by Major Potter, as set forth in the first finding, she was in the claimant's possession as alleged owner, and she was also in Mexican waters, beyond the jurisdiction of the United States.
Upon these facts the claim was dismissed.
The claimant then brought the case here.
Mr. Enoch Totten for the appellant.
The Solicitor-General, contra.
The first objection made to the claim is, that the contract was not in writing, as required by the act of June 2, 1862, entitled 'An Act to prevent and punish fraud on the part of officers intrusted with the making of contracts for the government.' 12 Stat. 411. This act provides:——
'.
The act further provides that the officer shall affix an affidavit to his return, and makes it a misdemeanor to neglect making his return, and directs the heads of departments to furnish printed instructions and forms of contracts, &c.
It is contended on the part of the government that this act is mandatory and binding both on the officers making contracts and on the parties contracting with them; whilst the claimant insists that it is merely directory to the officers of the government, and cannot affect the validity of contracts actually made, though not in writing. The Court of Claims has heretofore held the act to be mandatory, and as requiring all contracts made with the departments named to be in conformity with it. The arguments by which this view has been enforced by that court are of great weight, and, in our judgment, conclusive. The facility with which the government may be pillaged by the presentment of claims of the most extraordinary character if allowed to be sustained by parol evidence, which can always be produced to any required extent, renders it highly desirable that all contracts which are made the basis of demands against the government should be in writing. Perhaps the primary object of the statute was to impose a restraint upon the officers themselves, and prevent them from making reckless engagements for the government; but the considerations referred to make it manifest that there is no class of cases in which a statute for preventing frauds and perjuries is more needed than in this. And we think that the statute in question was intended to operate as such. It makes it unlawful for contracting officers to make contracts in any other way than by writing signed by the parties. This is equivalent to prohibiting any other mode of making contracts. Every man is supposed to know the law. A party who makes a contract with an officer without having it reduced to writing is knowingly accessory to a violation of duty on his part. Such a party aids in the violation of the law. We are of opinion, therefore, that the contract itself is affected, and must conform to the requirements of the statute until it passes from the observation and control of the party who enters into it. After that, if the officer fails to follow the further directions of the act with regard to affixing his affidavit and returning a copy of the contract to the proper office, the party is not responsible for this neglect.
We do not mean to say that, where a parol contract has been wholly or partially executed and performed on one side, the party performing will not be entitled to recover the fair value of his property or services. On the...
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