Oscar Reid v. United States

Decision Date04 January 1909
Docket NumberNo. 552,552
PartiesOSCAR REID, Plff. in Err., v. UNITED STATES
CourtU.S. Supreme Court

Messrs. Chase Mellen and Francis Woodbridge for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 530-532 intentionally omitted] Solicitor General Hoyt for defendant in error.

Judge-Advocate-General Davis as amicus curice.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 533-535 intentionally omitted] Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is a suit for $122.26, alleged to be due to the plaintiff in error as an enlisted man in the regular Army from November 16, 1906, to July 18, 1907, when his term of service expired. The plaintiff in error was one of the members of Companies B, C, and D, of the First Battalion of the Twenty-fifth United States Infantry, who were discharged without honor by order of the President on the former date, without trial, after certain disturbances in Brownsville, Texas, in which the order averred members of those companies to have participated. The petition alleges that the plaintiff in error had no part in the disturbance and no knowledge as to who was concerned in it, and denies the power of the President to make such a discharge. The answer, after certain preliminaries, suggests for a second defense that the district court has no jurisdiction, by reason of the act of March 3, 1887, chap. 359, § 2, 24 Stat. at L. 505, as amended by the act of June 27, 1898, chap. 503, § 2, 30 Stat. at L. 494, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 753, which provides that the jurisdiction conferred 'shall not extend to cases brought to recover fees, salary, or compensation for official services of officers of the United States,' etc. For a third defense the answer alleges the investigations that were made, the reported impossibility of identifying the culprits unless the soldiers would take it in hand or turn state's evidence, the President's belief that the crimes under consideration were committed by a considerable group of the members of the regiment, and that the greater part of the regiment must know who were the guilty men, and the issuing of the order in consequence, not as a punishment, but for the good of the service; and affirms that it was in accordance with precedent. The third defense was demurred to, the demurrer was sustained, the petition was dismissed on the merits, and this writ of error was brought.

As the case comes here on the merits, and not on a certificate under the act of March 3, 1891, chap. 517, § 5, 26 Stat. at L. 827, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 549, the first question that we have to consider is the jurisdiction of this court; and, on this point, without going further, we must yield to the argument submitted, although not urged, on behalf of the United States. The jurisdiction of the district court is derived from the act of March 3, 1887, chap. 359, § 3, 24 Stat. at L. 505, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 754, by which it is made concurrent with that of the court of claims when the amount of the claim does not exceed $1,000, and that of the circuit court is made concurrent for amounts between one thousand and ten thousand dollars. By § 4, the right of appeal 'shall be governed by the law now in force,' and by § 9, the plaintiff or the United States, in any suit brought under the provisions of the act, 'shall have the same rights of appeal or writ of error as are now reserved in the statutes of the United States in that behalf made.' This meant the same right of appeal as was given from the court of claims (United States v. Davis, 131 U. S. 36, 33 L. ed. 93, 9 Sup. Ct. Rep. 657); so that it hardly admits of doubt that, when that statute went into effect, an appeal or writ of error under it by a claimant demanding less than $3,000 would have been dismissed. Rev. Stat. § 707, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 574. See Strong v. United States, 40 Fed. 183.

The real question is whether this limitation is done away with or qualified by the act of March 3, 1891, chap. 517, §§ 5, 6, and 14, 26 Stat. at L. 826, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 488. By § 14, 'all acts and parts of acts relating to appeals or writs of error inconsistent with the provisions for review by appeals or writs of error in the preceding sections five and six of this act are hereby repealed.' By § 5, writs of error may be taken from the district courts direct to this court when the jurisdiction of the court is in issue, the question of jurisdiction alone being certified; in which case no other question is open. United States v. Larkin, 208 U. S. 333, 340, 52 L. ed. 517, 520, 28 Sup. Ct. Rep. 417. That clause does not...

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