State ex rel. Compton v. Anderson

• Decision Date: 08 November 1889
• Parties: STATE ex rel. COMPTON, Paymaster, etc., v. ANDERSON, Comptroller.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

18 A. 584

52 N.J.L. 150

STATE ex rel. COMPTON, Paymaster, etc.,

v. ANDERSON, Comptroller.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

Nov. 8, 1889.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

On rule for mandamus.

Argued June term, 1888, before DEPUE, VAN SYCKEL, and DIXON, JJ.

Vail & Ward, for relator. The Attorney General, for the comptroller.

DIXON, J. The relator, who now is, and since May 6, 1885, has been, the paymaster of the Third regiment of the National Guard of the state of New Jersey, applies for a writ of mandamus directing the comptroller of the state to pay to him $1,000, which he claims upon the following facts: On July 15, 1884, Company B became duly organized and attached to said regiment, and has so continued ever since. On January 30, 1885, Company F became duly organized and attached to said regiment, and has so continued ever since. In June, 1885, the comptroller paid to the relator $401 on account of Company B, and $90.42 on account of Company F; and in May, 1886, likewise paid $500 on account of each company. The relator insists that the sums paid in June, 1885, were due on the organization and attachment of the respective companies; that the payments made in May, 1886, were due on the first Monday of April, 1885; and that on the first Monday of April, 1886, the sum which he now demands became due on account of the said companies. On the other hand the comptroller contends that the sums paid in June, 1885, became due on the first Monday of April, 1885; that those paid in May, 1886, were due only on the first Monday of April, 1886; and that the sums now claimed did not become due until the first Monday of April, 1887, before which date this proceeding was, presumably, instituted. In short, the debated question is whether the annual allowances to the companies of the National Guard are payable in advance or not.

The question is one of statutory construction merely, and the first statute to be considered is that which directs the payment to be made,—section 39 of the "National Guard Act" of March 9, 1869, (Revision, 686,) viz.: "That in lieu of the present provisions for uniforms and drill-room, or armory rent and pay, there shall be paid, on the first Monday of April of each year, to the paymaster or acting paymaster of each regiment or battalion of the National Guard, the sum of five hundred dollars per company, for each company duly organized which at said time is attached to the regiment or battalion to which said paymaster or acting paymaster belongs, to be expended by the said paymaster or acting paymaster only under the direction of the regimental or battalion board of the regiment or battalion to which such paymaster or acting paymaster belongs, subject to the approval of the commandant of said regiment or battalion, for the purpose of procuring drill-rooms and armories, for the purchase of uniforms, and to defray other expenses incident to the existence of the regiment or battalion, or companies attached to the regiment or battalion; and, for any company duly organized subsequently to the first day of April in any year, the paymaster or acting paymaster shall receive at the rate of five hundred dollars per year for the unexpired part of the year ending on the first day of April then next, to be expended only in the manner stated above."

Upon its face, this section seems to direct payments in advance. Such is the purport of the first clause, that the whole sum of $500 is to be paid on the first Monday of April, for each duly organized company which on that day is attached to the regiment or battalion, without any express requirement that the company shall have been so attached for the entire year preceding, although each company, at the first April in its existence, must have been so attached for only part of a year. To the same effect is the last clause of the section, that the proportionate part of $500 for each company organized after April 1st is to be received by the paymaster for the unexpired part of the year ending on the 1st day of April then next, the fair meaning of which is that he is to receive it while yet the year is unexpired. A similar intention is, I think, exhibited by the language in which the object of transferring these moneys to the paymaster is declared, that he may expend them under the direction of the regimental or battalion board, for the purpose of procuring drill-rooms and armories, for the purchase of uniforms, and to defray incidental expenses. An armory and uniforms are needed by a company forthwith upon its organization, and sections 36, 37, and 38 of this same statute expressly require, or plainly imply, that they shall be furnished for the company within two months after organization; and the section now under review directs that these moneys shall be expended by the paymaster in procuring these immediate necessaries, not in paying debts previously...