Scott v. United States
| Decision Date | 01 December 1870 |
| Citation | 20 L.Ed. 438,79 U.S. 443,12 Wall. 443 |
| Parties | SCOTT v. UNITED STATES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
APPEAL from the Court of Claims.
Messrs. A. H. Garland, N. P. Chipman, and E. L. Stanton, for the appellant; Mr. B. H. Bristow, Solicitor-General, and Mr. C. H. Hill, Assistant Attorney-General, contra.
Mr. Justice SWAYNE stated the case and delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an appeal from the judgment of the Court of Claims. The facts of the case, as far as it is necessary to consider them, are as follows:
On the 13th of February, 1866, Henry T. Noble, assistant quartermaster in the volunteer military service of the United States, entered into a contract with the appellant, Scott, whereby the quartermaster 'agrees to furnish all the transportation the United States may require from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Fort Smith, Arkansas, and of and from all points between Little Rock, Arkansas, and Fort Smith, Arkansas, when the same is to be furnished by river.' Transportation was called for by the United States between Little Rock and Fort Smith, furnished by Scott, and duly paid for by the government. Upon that subject there is no controversy between the parties. But the United States also shipped troops and stores from St. Louis to Fort Smith and Fort Gibson. The vessels, on their way, touched at Little Rock, but did not discharge there. While they were at Little Rock, Scott, in a written communication to the quartermaster, claimed the right, under his contract, to transport the troops and stores in question from that point to Fort Smith, and had boats ready to perform that service. None of the lading was delivered to him. Had he transported it, the freight, according to his contract, would have amounted to $17,605.66. The Court of Claims held that the transportation thus claimed was not within the contract, and dismissed his petition. Hence this appeal.
We think the decision of the Court of Claims was correct. The soundness of this view of the subject is too clear to require or admit of much discussion. The contract was for transportation between Little Rock and Fort Smith. Transportation from Little Rock to Fort Smith was not the same thing by any means as transportation from St. Louis to Fort Smith or Fort Gibson. Transportation from St. Louis to those places necessarily involved transportation by Little Rock, and thence over a common river route to the higher points of destination, but the voyages were wholly distinct and independent of each other. The greater includes the less, but that does not make them identical. In their totality they are as different as if the partial sameness did not exist. In the transportation between St. Louis and the other points named the...
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