Case ID: us-ct-cl_51/html/0482-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "Mr. Justice Holmes", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

JOHN D. FORD v. THE UNITED STATES. WILLIAM W. WHITE v. THE UNITED STATES.
    [Not reported in C. Cls. R.; 239 U. S. R. 608.]
    
      On the Plaintiffs’ appeals.
    
    No opinion was delivered by the court below, but judgment was rendered for the defendants. On appeal the judgment was affirmed, and the Supreme Court decided:
    The act of March 4, 1913, c. 148, 37 Stat. 891, granting officers of the Navy who had been advanced in rank the pay and allowances of the higher rank, applies only to officers on the active list and does not apply to officers on the retired list who were assigned for active service after their retirement.
    In construing a statute the court will regard it as more rational to assume that Congress was dealing with present affairs than that it was reopening finished transactions.
    The general rule of statutes relating to duty and pay of naval officers is found in Rev. Stat., sec. 1462, providing that no officer on the retired list shall be employed in active duty except in time of war.
   Mr. Justice Holmes

delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court January 17, 1916.