United States v. Cumming Cumming v. United States
| Decision Date | 22 April 1889 |
| Citation | 130 U.S. 452,9 S.Ct. 583,32 L.Ed. 1029 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES v. CUMMING et al. CUMMING et al. v. UNITED STATES |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Asst. Atty. Gen. Howard, for United States.
Michael Jacobs, Leonard Myers. and David McAdam, for Cumming et al.
Mr. Justice HARLAN, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.
It is evident that congress intended to open the doors of the court of claims to the plaintiffs, so far as to permit them to sue the government, unembarrassed by any defense of the statute of limitations, and to obtain an adjudication, based upon 'the law and facts,' as to the liability of the United States for the wrongs of which complaint is made. In other words, the jurisdiction of the court of claims was so enlarged as to embrace this particular demand, and to authorize such judgment as, under all the evidence, would be consistent with law. Here, however, we are met with the suggestion that there is a general principle applicable, as this court said, in Gibbons v. U. S., 8 Wall. 269, 275, to all governments, which 'forbids, on a policy imposed by necessity, that they should hold themselves liable for unauthorized wrongs inflicted by their officers on the citizen, though occurring while engaged in the discharge of official duties.' Did congress intend to abrogate this principle so far as the demands of the present plaintiffs are concerned? Did it invest the court of claims with jurisdiction to render a judgment against the United States upon its appearing that the revenue officers transcended the authority conferred upon them by law, or had exercised their authority in such manner as made them personally liable in damages to the plaintiffs? There would be some ground for an affirmative answer to these questions if the statute had not required the court to pass upon both the law and the facts 'as to the liability of the United States.' If the facts disclosed a case of unauthorized wrongs done to the plaintiffs by the revenue officers of the United States, the question, by the very terms of the act, would still remain whether the United States were liable, in law, for such damages as the plaintiffs had sustained. There would seem to be no escape from the conclusion that congress intended that the liability of the government should be determined by the settled principles of law. The only right waived by the government was a defense based upon the statute of limitations. Erwin v. U. S., 97 U. S. 392; Tillson v. U....
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