McClure v. United States

• Decision Date: 21 December 1885
• Citation: 116 U.S. 145,6 S.Ct. 321,29 L.Ed. 572
• Parties: MCCLURE v. UNITED STATES. Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

6 S.Ct. 321

116 U.S. 145

29 L.Ed. 572

MCCLURE v. UNITED STATES.

Filed December 21, 1885.

S. Shellabarger, J. M. Wilson, and J. E. McDonald, for the motion.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Maury, in opposition.

WAITE, C. J.

This is a motion for an order on the court of claims 'to transmit to this court all the evidence on which the cause was heard and determined' in that court; or, if such an order cannot be made, that the cause be remanded, 'with directions to make returns to this court, whether or not the evidence upon which said cause was heard and determined does or does not establish and prove the several separate and distinct propositions of fact contained in the requests for findings of fact presented * * * to the said court before the trial of said cause; and upon the motion for a new trial, or a rehearing of said cause, that the said court shall be directed to find specifically all the material facts involved in the case.'

The suit was brought under the following act of congress, passed February 24, 1874, entitled 'An act for the relief of Col. Daniel McClure, assistant pay-master general;' 'Be it enacted,' etc., 'That the claims of Daniel McClure assistant pay-master general, for credits and differences in his accounts as pay-master, under his official bond dated March 2, 1859, shall be, and are hereby, referred to the court of claims, with jurisdiction to hear and determine said claims. And if the said court shall be satisfied from the evidence that any of the moneys charged to him were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds exist for credits claimed by him, it shall make a decree, setting forth the amount to which the said McClure shall be entitled to receive credit; upon which the proper accounting officers of the treasury shall allow him the amount so decreed as a credit in the settlement of his accounts: provided, that the testimony of said McClure shall be received in his own behalf by said court, and until the determination of said cause the final adjustment of his said accounts is suspended: and provided, further, that an appeal shall be allowed to either party, as in other cases.' 18 St. pt. 3, 531; Priv. Laws, c. 37.

In his petition filed in the cause, McClure made three claims for credit, to-wit: (1) for $1,183.13, money on deposit, to his official credit as pay-master, with the assistant treasurer of the United States at New Orleans, which was seized by the insurgent forces of the Confederate States, and appropriated to their own use, without any fault on his part; (2) for $289.05 taken from his possession by a military force acting for and in behalf of the Confederate authorities; and (3) for $1,000, an overaddition made of pay-rolls by his clerk, which in no manner inured to his personal benefit. There were also three claims for differences between his accounts and those of the United States, being for moneys charged to him, which, as he alleged were not in fact received, to-wit: (1) $1,432.48, said to have been transferred to him by J. L. Hewitt; (2) $25,000, by C. S. Stevenson; and (3) $4,993, by V. C. Hanna.

The court of claims has found as facts (1) that the $289.05 was taken from McClure by an armed force in charge of one of the commissioners of the state of Texas while it was in his hands as government money; and (2) that the sum of $1,183.13 was turned over by the assistant treasurer of the United States to the Confederate States, while it was on deposit with him to the credit of McClure as pay-master. As to the sum of $1,000, it is found that McClure stated an account show- ing payments made to troops, and accompanied the same with vouchers, one of which was overadded $1,000, and he got credit at the time for the overaddition as for money paid out. As to the several items of differences, it is found that the parties by whom the transfers were respectively supposed to be made had each obtained a receipt from McClure for the amount stated, and that they were allowed credit therefor in settlement of their own accounts at the treasury. As to the moneys taken by the Confederate authorities, the court was satisfied from the evidence that just and equitable grounds existed for their allowance as credits. As to the overaddition, the court was not satisfied from the evidence that any just and equitable grounds existed for the credit thereof the McClure; and as to the several amounts specified in the receipts obtained by the different parties, the court was not satisfied from the evidence that the moneys charged to McClure by the United States were not in fact received by him, or that other just and equitable grounds existed for giving him credit for these amounts.

1. As to bringing up the evidence. It is not pretended that this can be done unless the statute under which the suit is brought takes the case out of the operation of our rules regulating appeals from the court of claims. The original act which gave the right of appeal from the court of claims to this court was passed March 3, 1863, and provided that the appeals should be 'under such regulations as the supreme court may direct.' 12 St. 766, c. 92, § 5. This provision is still found in section 708 of the Revised Statutes. At the December term, 1865, this court adopted certain rules for the regulation of such appeals, and Rule 1 was as follows:

'Rule 1. In all cases hereafter decided in the court of claims in which, by the act of congress, such appeals are allowable, they shall be heard in the supreme court upon the following record, and none other: (1) A transcript of the pleadings in the case, of the final judgment or decree of the court, and of such interlocutory orders, rulings, judgments, and decrees as may be necessary to a proper review of the case. (2) A finding of the facts in the case by said court of claims, and the conclusions of law on said facts, on which the court founds its judgment or decree. The finding of the facts and the conclusions of law to be stated separately, and certified to this court as part of record. The facts so found are to be the ultimate facts or propositions which the evidence shall establish, in the nature of a special verdict, and not the evidence on which those ultimate facts are founded. See Burr v. Des Moines Co., 2[1] Wall. 102.'

This rule was amended in some particulars at the December term, 1872, but not in a way to affect the present case. It has been in force, substantially in its original form, from the time of its adoption until now, and has always been strictly adhered to. Such being the case, when congress passes a special statute allowing a suit to be brought in the court of claims, with a right of appeal to this court, the appeal will be governed by the rules applicable to cases arising under the general jurisdiction of the court, unless provision is made to the contrary.

In Harvey v. U. S., 105 U. S. 671, the suit was brought under a statute passed April 14, 1876, (19 St. 490, c. 279,) which authorized the court of claims 'to proceed in the adjustment of the accounts between the claimants and the United Stated as a court of equity jurisdiction; and may, if according to the principles of equity jurisprudence, in its judicial discretion, reform said contract, and render such judgment as justice and right between the parties may require.' An appeal to this court was also given: and we held that. as the suit was to be in equity, the parties were entitled to an appeal in equity, which should bring up for review the facts as well as the law. But...