Susan Decatur, Plaintiff In Error v. James Paulding, Secretary of the Navy, Defendant In Error
| Court | United States Supreme Court |
| Citation | 10 L.Ed. 559,14 Pet. 497,39 U.S. 497 |
| Parties | SUSAN DECATUR, PLAINTIFF IN ERROR, v. JAMES K. PAULDING, SECRETARY OF THE NAVY, DEFENDANT IN ERROR |
| Decision Date | 01 January 1840 |
IN error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the county of Washington, in the District of Columbia.
On the 3d of March, 1837, an act was passed by Congress, giving to the widow of any officer who had died in the naval service of the United States, out of the navy pension fund, half the monthly pay to which the deceased officer had been entitled to receive under the laws in force on the 1st day of January, 1835; the half-pay to commence from the death of such officer: the pension so allowed, to cease on the intermarriage or death of the widow, &c.
On the same 3d of March, 1837, a resolution was passed by Congress, 'granting a pension to Susan Decatur, widow of the late Stephen Decatur.' The resolution directs that Mrs. Susan Decatur be paid from the navy pension fund, a pension for five years, commencing from the 30th June, 1834, in conformity with the provisions 'of the act concerning naval pensions and the navy pension fund, passed thirtieth June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, and that she be allowed from said fund the arrearages of the half-pay of a post captain, from the death of Commodore Decatur to the thirtieth of June, eighteen hundred and thirty-four, together with the pension hereby allowed her; and that the arrearage of said pension be invested in the Secretary of the Treasury in trust for the use of the said Susan Decatur: provided that the said pension shall cease on the death or marriage of the said Susan Decatur.'
Under the law of March 3d, 1837, Mrs. Decatur applied to Mahlon Dickorson, Esq., then Secretary of the Navy, and trustee of the navy pension fund, and received out of the navy pension fund the whole amount of the pension, which, as the widow of Commodore Decatur, she was entitled to by the provisions of the law. This was received by her under a reservation of her rights under the resolution of the 3d of March, 1837; she at the same time claiming the benefit of that resolution.
Mr. Dickerson, the Secretary of the Navy, referred the question whether Mrs. Decatur was entitled to both pensions, to the Attorney General of the United States; and he decided that she might make her election to receive either pension, but that she was not entitled to both. On the retirement of Mr. Dickerson from the navy department, he was succeeded by Mr. Paulding, the defendant in error. In the autumn of 1838, Mrs. Decatur applied to Mr. Paulding, requiring him, as the trustee of the navy pension fund, to pay the sum claimed to be due to her under the resolution of Congress of March 3d, 1837, stated in an amended petition filed in the Circuit Court to be eighteen thousand five hundred and ninety-seven dollars, with interest on the same. It was stated that there were ample funds, and money of the navy pension fund to pay the amount claimed.
The Secretary of the Navy refused to comple with this demand; and on the 25th November, 1837, Mrs. Decatur applied by petition to the Circuit Court of the county of Washington, setting forth all the circumstances of the case, and asking from the Court a writ of mandamus, 'to be directed to the said James K. Paulding, Secretary of the Navy of the United States, commanding him, that he shall fully comply with, obey, and execute, the aforesaid resolution of Congress, of the 3d of March, 1837, by paying to your petitioner and to the Secretary of the Treasury, in manner and form as said act or resolution provides, or as your honours shall think proper, the full and entire amount of the aforesaid sum or sums of money, with interest thereon, or such part or portion thereof as your honours may direct.'
The Circuit Court granted a rule on the Secretary of the Navy to show cause why the writ of mandamus, as prayed for, should not be issued; and to this rule the Secretary made the following return:
To the honourable the judges of the Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, for Washington County.
The undersigned, James K. Paulding, Secretary of the Navy of the United States, respectfully states:
That he hath been served with notice of an order or rule from this honourable Court, requiring him to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not be issued from the said Court, directed to him as Secretary of the Navy of the United States, upon the petition of Mrs. Susan Decatur, commanding him to pay certain sums of money out of the navy pension fund, claimed by said petitioner to be due to her under a certain resolution of Congress referred to in the aforesaid petition.
The undersigned considers it his duty, in the first place, to protest against the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court invoked on this occasion, for the following reasons:
1st. Because, as Secretary of the Navy of the United States, he is not subject, in the discharge of the duties of his office by the Constitution and laws of the United States, to the control, supervision, and direction of the said Court.
2d. Because, as such Secretary, he is by law constituted the trustee of the navy pension fund, and it is made his duty, as such, 'to receive applications for pensions, and to grant the same according to the terms of the acts of Congress in such cases provided.' He is also required to cause books to be opened, and regular accounts to be kept, showing the condition of the navy and privateer pension funds, the receipts and expenditures thereof, the names of the pensioners, and the dates and amount of their respective pensions, with a statement of the act or acts of Congress under which the same may be granted; and he shall annually report to Congress an abstract showing the condition of these funds in all these particulars, and the receipts and expenditures during the year; and there is no law authorizing the Circuit Court of this District to control and direct him in the discharge of these duties.
3d. Because such jurisdiction in this Court would, if assumed, operate as such an interference with the discharge of the official duties of the undersigned, as to make it impossible for him to perform them as required and intended, and would transfer to the said Court the discharge of the said duties, and the whole management and disposition of the said fund, and subject all applicants for pensions to the delay, expense, and embarrassments of legal controversies as to their rights, and to a suspension of the provisions to which they might be entitled under the laws, till these controversies were judicially decided.
4th. Because such a jurisdiction in the Circuit Court would make the United States sueable in that Court; and subject the money of the United States, in the Treasury of the United States, to be taken therefrom by the judgments of said Court.
5th. Because if the Circuit Court assumes the jurisdiction of compelling the Secretary of the Navy, or the head of any other department, to revise and reverse the decisions that may have been made by their predecessors in office, these officers will necessarily be taken off from the discharge of their immediate and most urgent public duties, and made to apply their time and attention, and that of their clerks in the departments, in an endless review and reconsideration of antiquated claims and settled questions, to the delay and hinderance of measures of vital importance to the national welfare and safety.
For these and other reasons, which he trusts will be obvious, on further consideration, to the Court, he respectfully objects to the jurisdiction assumed in this case; and will now proceed, under such protest, to show cause why the mandamus prayed for should not be issued.
The undersigned was somewhat surprised to see it stated in the petition of the relatrix, that 'he had been often requested by her to pay the two several sums of money stated in the petition, amounting to the aggregate sum of twenty-three thousand four hundred and twenty-two dollars and twenty-five cents;' and that he had refused so to do; and, that 'he pretended to say that the petitioner was not entitled to the same, or any part thereof.' The undersigned has no recollection of ever having refused the payment of any sum, or any sums of money demanded in behalf of Mrs. Decatur, except so far as this may have been inferred from his declining to reconsider her claim on grounds which he will now proceed to state.
Sometime in September, 1838, the undersigned received a communication from the counsel of Mrs. Decatur, informing him that they had examined the documents connected with her claims, and the opinion of the late Attorney General, Mr. Butler, upon the strength of which the claim appeared to have been disallowed by his predecessor, and that they were satisfied that the decision which had been made was not warranted by law.
A reconsideration of the case was then asked of the undersigned, 'if he felt himself at liberty to revise the decision of his predecessor.' And if this could not be complied with, he has then asked 'to give such instructions to the District Attorney as will enable him to concur with them in bringing the subject before a competent tribunal, in order to obtain a judicial decision upon the case.' To this application the undersigned replied, 'that the claim having been examined and decided by his predecessor, in conformity with the opinion of the late Attorney General, he did not feel himself authorized to disturb that decision, as no new facts had been adduced to call for a re-examination.' And further, that he also declined the second proposition of the counsel; 'being unwilling to give a precedent, which, if once established, will place every executive officer of the government in the attitude of a defendant, in all cases where individuals are dissatisfied with his decisions.'
After this reply, no further application was made to the undersigned; but in February last, a memorial was presented to the...
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Heckler v. Chaney, 83-1878
...ordinary duties of the executive departments of the government, would be productive of nothing but mischief.' [citing Decatur v. Paulding, 14 Pet. 497, 516, 10 L.Ed. 559 (1840) ]. Is it because the tradition became settled before the courts made the twentieth-century discovery that the cour......
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Allison v. United States, 507-69.
...be interfered with by the courts. Ex parte Hennen, 38 U.S. (13 Pet.) 230, 10 L.Ed. 138 (1839); Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497, 10 L.Ed. 559 (1840); United States v. McLean, 95 U.S. 750, 24 L.Ed. 579 (1877); Keim v. United States, 177 U.S. 290, 20 S.Ct. 574, 44 L.Ed. 774 (1900); ......
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Chambers v. United States, 141-70.
...opinion upon that part of the case. Id. at 261-262. Again, in 1840, the Supreme Court held in Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497, 10 L.Ed. 559 * * * The Court could not entertain an appeal from the decision of one of the Secretaries, nor revise his judgment in any case where the law......
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Exxon Corp. v. F. T. C., KERR-M
...branch, See, Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 488, 43 S.Ct. 597, 67 L.Ed. 1078 (1923); Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497, 10 L.Ed. 559 (1840); Protestants and Other Americans for Separation of Church and State v. O'Brien, 272 F.Supp. 712 It would exceed our jurisdiction for thi......
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Heckler v. Chaney, 83-1878
...ordinary duties of the executive departments of the government, would be productive of nothing but mischief.' [citing Decatur v. Paulding, 14 Pet. 497, 516, 10 L.Ed. 559 (1840) ]. Is it because the tradition became settled before the courts made the twentieth-century discovery that the cour......
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Allison v. United States, 507-69.
...be interfered with by the courts. Ex parte Hennen, 38 U.S. (13 Pet.) 230, 10 L.Ed. 138 (1839); Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497, 10 L.Ed. 559 (1840); United States v. McLean, 95 U.S. 750, 24 L.Ed. 579 (1877); Keim v. United States, 177 U.S. 290, 20 S.Ct. 574, 44 L.Ed. 774 (1900); ......
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Chambers v. United States, 141-70.
...opinion upon that part of the case. Id. at 261-262. Again, in 1840, the Supreme Court held in Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497, 10 L.Ed. 559 * * * The Court could not entertain an appeal from the decision of one of the Secretaries, nor revise his judgment in any case where the law......
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Exxon Corp. v. F. T. C., KERR-M
...branch, See, Frothingham v. Mellon, 262 U.S. 447, 488, 43 S.Ct. 597, 67 L.Ed. 1078 (1923); Decatur v. Paulding, 39 U.S. (14 Pet.) 497, 10 L.Ed. 559 (1840); Protestants and Other Americans for Separation of Church and State v. O'Brien, 272 F.Supp. 712 It would exceed our jurisdiction for thi......