In re Schneider

• Decision Date: 14 March 1893
• Citation: 37 L.Ed. 406,148 U.S. 162,13 S.Ct. 572
• Parties: In re SCHNEIDER
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

148 U.S. 162

13 S.Ct. 572

37 L.Ed. 406

In re SCHNEIDER. March 14, 1893.

[163]

Jeremiah M. Wilson, Wiliam F. Mattingly, and A. A. Hoehling, Jr., for petitioner. [Argument of Counsel from pages 163-166 intentionally omitted]

[166]

djQ Mr. Chief Justice FULLER. Leave to file petition for writs of habeas corpus and certiorari is denied. The ground of the application does not go to the jurisdiction or authority of the supreme court of the District, and mere error cannot be reviewed in this proceeding. Ex parte Parks, 93 U. S. 18; Ex parte Bigelow, 113 U. S. 328, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 542; Ex parte Wilson, 114 U. S. 417, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 935; Nielsen, Petitioner, 131 U. S. 176, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 672. Roget

v.

U S

[13SCt555,148US167,37LEd408] 13 S.Ct. 555 148 U.S. 167 37 L.Ed. 408 ROGET v. UNITED STATES.

No. 80.

March 6, 1893.

Robert B. Lines and John Paul Jones, for appellant.

Attorney General Miller, for the United States.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the court of claims, finding in favor of the United States, and dismissing the petition of the claimant, Eugenia A. Roget, executrix of Edward A. Roget, deceased. Edward A. Roget was a professor of mathematics in the United States navy, having been commissioned July 8, 1864, to rank from May 21, 1864. On August 1st of that year, being then 62 years of age, he was placed upon the retired list, in accordance with the act of congress approved December 21, 1861, (12 St. p. 329,) which contains the following provisions:

'That whenever the name of any naval officer now in service, or who may hereafter be in the service, of the United States, shall have been borne on the naval register forty-five years, or shall be of the age of sixty-two years, he shall be retired from active service, and his name entered on the retired list of officers of the grade to which he belonged at the time of such retirement.

'Sec. 2. And be it further enacted that the president of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorized to assign any officer who may be retired under the preceding section of this act to shore duty, and such officer thus assigned shall receive the full shore pay of his grade while so employed.'

'Sec. 5. And be it further enacted that all officers retired under the provisions of this act shall receive the retired pay of their respective grades as fixed by law.'

Under the same act he was continued on active duty until June 30, 1873.

On July 15, 1870, a naval appropriation act was approved, (16 St. p. 331,) the third section of which contains, among other provisions, the following:

'That from and after the thirtieth day of June, eighteen hundred and seventy, the annual pay of the officers of the navy on the active list shall be as follows:

* * *

'Professors of mathematics and civil engineers, during the first five years after date of appointment, when on duty, two thousand four hundred dollars; on leave or waiting orders, one thousand five hundred dollars; during the second five years after such date, when on duty, two thousand seven hundred dollars; on leave or waiting orders, one thousand eight hundred dollars; during the third five years after such date, when on duty, three thousand dollars; on leave or waiting orders, two thousand one hundred dollars; after fifteen years from such date, when on duty, three thousand five hundred dollars; on leave or waiting orders, two thousand six hundred dollars.'

While performing active service, Prof. Roget received the full shore pay of his grade, including the increase after five years' service at the rate so provided for. On June 30, 1873, he was relieved from active service, in accordance with the naval appropriation act of March 3, 1873, (17 St. p. 547,) which provides, in the first section, 'that no officer on the retired list of the navy shall be employed on active duty except in time of war.'

The same section of that act contains the following provision:

'That those officers on the retired list, and those hereafter retired, who were, or who may be, retired after forty years' service, or on attaining the age of sixty-two years, in conformity with section one of the act of December, eighteen hundred and sixty-one, and its amendments, dated June twenty-fifth, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, or those who were or may be retired from incapacity resulting from long and faithful service, from wounds or injuries received in the line of duty, from sickness or exposure therein, shall, after the passage of this act, be entitled to seventy-five per centum of the present sea pay of the grade or rank which they held at the time of their retirement.'

From the time Prof. Roget was relieved from duty until November 9, 1887, when he died, he was paid at the rate of $1,800 a year.

It was contended by the claimant that under the naval appropriation act, approved March 3, 1883, (22 St. p. 472,) her testator should have been credited with the time of his active service, from May 21, 1864, to March 3, 1873, and should have received the difference between the pay of a retired professor of mathematics, who has been retired within his first five years of service, and the pay of such officer who has been retired within his second five years, or $225 per annum, from July 1, 1873, to the date of his death, being 14 years and 122 days. She therefore asked for a judgment against the United States in the sum of $3,200. The court of claims, in dismissing the petition, decided that 'an officer in the navy, who was retired in the first five years of service from a rank having longevity pay, but who was continued on active duty until he had passed into his second five years of service, is not entitled, under the...