United States v. Dowdell

• Decision Date: 21 October 1881
• Parties: UNITED STATES v. DOWDELL. [1]
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Indiana

8 F. 881

UNITED STATES v. DOWDELL. ^[1]

United States District Court, D. Indiana.

October 21, 1881

A. C Harris and W. H. Calkins, for defendant.

Chas L. Holstein, U.S. Dist. Atty., and Chas. H. McCarer, Asst U.S. Atty., for the United States.

GRESHAM D.J.

The charge is that on the first day of January, 1880, the defendant demanded and received from Keziah A. Davis, for prosecuting her claim for a pension, a greater sum than was allowed by law. The indictment is based upon section 5485 of the Revised Statutes, which reads:

'Sec. 5485. Any agent or attorney, or any other person instrumental in prosecuting any claim for pension or bounty land, who shall, directly or indirectly, contract for, demand, or receive, or retain any greater compensation for his services or instrumentality in prosecuting a claim for pension or bounty land than is provided in the title pertaining to pensions, or who shall wrongfully withhold from a pensioner or claimant the whole or any part of the pension or claim allowed and due such pensioner or claimant, or the land-warrant issued to any such claimant, shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor. * * * '

Section 4785 declares that no agent, attorney, or other person shall demand or receive any other compensation for his services in prosecuting a claim for a pension or bounty than such as the commissioner of pensions shall direct to be paid, not exceeding $25. The act of June 20, 1878, (20 St.at Large, 243,) declares that it shall be unlawful for any agent, attorney, or other person to receive for his services in a pension case a greater sum than $10, and expressly repeals section 4785. It is declared in section 5485 that no greater compensation shall be retained or received for prosecuting a claim for pension 'than is provided in the title pertaining to pensions,' and the defendant moves to quash the indictment on the ground that the only compensation which is found in the title pertaining to pensions is that in section 4785, which has been repealed, and that it is no longer a criminal offence to demand or receive illegal fees for prosecuting pension claims.

Section 4785 simply authorized the commissioner of pensions to allow a fee of not exceeding $25 for prosecuting a claim. Not satisfied with this provision for the protection of pensioners, congress, by the act of 1878, declared that it should be unlawful for any agent or attorney to charge for his services in a single case more than $10, and repealed section 4785. It can hardly be doubted that it was the desire of this statute to protect pensioners rather than claim agents and attorneys, and to give effect to this design the statute must be enforced as a substitute for ...