5 Ct. Cl. 55 | Ct. Cl. | 1869
delivered the opinion of the court:
This case has been transmitted by the Secretary of War.
. It is a claim for the hire of a steamboat, under a charter-party with the United States. The vouchers, account, and claim were sent to the Third Auditor for settlement. He allowed the claim, and found a balance due the claimant of thirteen thousand and eighty dollars; and this settlement was approved and confirmed by the Second Comptroller. A certificate of the settlement was presented to the Secretary of War, and a requisition or warrant requested for the amount. This was refused; and under the provisions of the seventh section of the act 25th June, 1868, (15 Stat., p. 76,) he transmitted the papers to this court. The motion to dismiss the case is based upon three main grounds:
' 1. Because, under the laws of Congress, the decision of the
2. That the papers and vouchers in the case having been sent to the Auditor, the War Department has lost all control over the case; and that it is no longer a claim made upon that department. That it can only be transmitted by the Secretary of the Treasury.
3. That the u vouchers, papers, proofs, and documents, pertaining” to the case, having been remitted to the Auditor, and where they are permanently filed of record, the Secretary of War can no longer comply with the provisions of the seventh section act of June 25,1868.
We have carefully considered the points made, together with the able and instructive argument of claimant’s counsel, and will briefly state our conclusions..
Whatever doubts existed prior to the act of March 30,1868;, there can be none now that the settlement of public accounts by the Auditors and Comptrollers are final and conclusive upon the executive departments of the government. Whatever uncertainty or controversy existed on that subject have been effectually removed by the plain and explicit provisions of that enactment. When they have acted, the head of the department to which the claim or account belongs has no right or-power to change or modify their award. He may, before signing a warrant or requisition for the amount of any account found and certified by them, submit to the proper Comptroller-any facts which in his judgment may affect the correctness of such balance. Beyond this he cannot go. Nor does the Secretary claim any such right or power in the present instance.
All that he claims is, that he has a right to ask a revision of' the matter by the proper court, and to place it in such position as to invoke the judgment of the judiciary upon the questions, involved.
This right, the Attorney General contends, is expressly reserved by the act of March 30, 1868; and that the mode in which it shall be exercised is prescribed by the act of Congress, of June 25,1868, section 7. And he claims that its provisions have been strictly followed in this case.
A long pending dispute existed between the accounting-bureaus and the heads of departments as to their respective
But when the amount allowed by the accounting officers is, in the opinion of the head of the proper department, larger than is'justly due to the claimant, how is that to be revised? The act says it shall be subject to revision by Congress or the proper courts. But how is the action of Congress or the courts to be invoked? How are they to got possession of the case? The Secretary of the Treasury, if it came from another department, cannot act unless the Auditor or Comptroller first certify it to him. The Auditor or Comptroller, having allowed the claim, will not certify it. And if the Secretary in whose department the claim originated, and from whose appropriations it is to be paid, has no right or power in the premises, there can be no such revision, although the act expressly provides for it. This construction makes the decision of the Auditor and Comptroller absolutely final and conclusive when their decision is against the United States; and otherwise when against the claimant.
A requisition for a warrant for the payment of the claim is demanded of the Secretary of War; and it is therefore a claim, a demand, made upon his department. And if such it be, it is competent for him, if it exceed three thousand dollars, and involve disputed facts or controverted law, to send it here for revision.
But it is insisted that the Secretary has no further power or control over it, because the act; requires him to transmit with it to this court “ all the vouchers, papers, proofs, and documents pertaining to the claim; and as these have been sent to and remain with the Auditor, it is no longer possible for the Secretary to comply with the law providing for the sending of such cases to the Court of Claims. Upon closer scrutiny, we think these arguments will be found more ingenious than sound. The act of March 30, 1868, evidently intended to reserve to Congress and the proper courts the right and power to revise the action of the Auditor and Comptroller in the-allowance of disputed demands upon the government; and this irrespective of whether the decision should be for or against the United States. This intention is expressed in such words and terms in the act of March 30, 1868, as to leave no room whatever for doubt. The provision is so direct and plain as to defy argument or illustration.
In such cases the head of the department transmits whatever papers, vouchers, and documents relating to the case remain in his department; those sent to the Auditor, if necessary to the case, can be procured upon the call of this court, or the Attorney General. This argument, we think, is entitled to but little weight, because the papers all remain in possession of the same government, and are as accessible and as easily obtained from the Auditor’s office as from the War Department.
But if the decision of these officers be final and conclusive upon all executive officers, and at the same time takes the case out of its appropriate department, so as to preclude the head of such department from seeking the revision provided for by Congress or the courts, then their powers are final and supreme.
The last-named act provided for the revision. But it was very soon seen by Congress that the means of securing such a revision was defective and incomplete. To remedy this, the seventh section of the act of June 25,1868, was enacted. The former act defined the right; the latter the manner in which and by whom it should be enforced and made effective. This completed the system, and made it a complete, homogeneous whole. Under that act the head of a department may send the claim here in the first instance; but he does not waive his power and right to do so by first allowing it to go to the .accounting officers. These powers were conferred for the public good and benefit, and he cannot waive or relinquish them, •even did he desire to do so. Besides, he cannot tell that the facts and law as he understands them are disputed, until a different result from that which he reached is arrived at by the accounting bureaus. This renders the need of congressional or judicial revision more pressing and desirable, when it is found that high executive officers differ as to the justice and legality of the claim. And it appears to me that every consideration •of public policy is ip favor of the closest scrutiny and the fullest revision of a claim so situated.
The main objection remaining to be considered is as to the time when the head of a department may transmit a claim to this court. The act of June 25, 1868, answers this question in the plainest and most explicit manner. That time is “whenever a claim is made upon said department” of the character and kind •described. Here, as we have already seen, the claim was being-made upon the War Department in the most direct and urgent manner. A claim for payment. It is backed by the certificate •of settlement and allowance by the Auditor and Comptroller. A requisition upon the Treasury is demanded; it is demanded upon the funds that are appropriated for his department, and for which he is responsible to Congress and the country. He