Case ID: us-ct-cl_23/html/0492-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Mr. Justice Blatchford", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

FREDERICK FRERICHS v. THE UNITED STATES.
    (21 C. Cls. R., 16; 124 U. S. R., 315.)
    
      On the defendants Appeal.
    
    The petition alleges that a collector of internal revenue seized the claimant’s still; on the trial the information was dismissed and a certificate of probable cause refused; subsequently a judgment was recovered against the collector, who applied to the Commissioner to pay it; he with the concurrence of the Secretary allowed the application and certified it for payment; the Comptroller refused to pass the account.
    The court below decides:
    (1) The Commissioner of Internal Revenue is authorized by the Revised Statutes ($ 3220), after advisement with the Secretary of the Treasury, to direct the payment of a judgment against a collector, whether satisfied or unsatisfied, and whether a certificate of probable cause was issued or refused.
    (2) It is immaterial whether the application to the Commissioner under section 3220 be made by the collector against whom a judgment has been recovered or by the judgment creditor.
    (3) The decision of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue (after advisement with the Secretary of the Treasury) that there was probable cause for a seizure is final under Revised Statutes, section 3220, and can not be reviewed by the accounting officers.
    The decision of the court below is affirmed on the first two grounds stated.
   Mr. Justice Blatchford

delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court, January 23, 1888.