Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/291/442/case.html
Timestamp: 2016-07-24 16:39:29
Document Index: 470203913

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 26', '§ 22', '§ 17', '§ 36', '§ 172', '§ 74']

Miguel v. McCarl :: 291 U.S. 442 (1934) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center Log In
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Miguel v. McCarl 291 U.S. 442 (1934)
U.S. Supreme CourtMiguel v. McCarl, 291 U.S. 442 (1934)Miguel v. McCarlNo. 435Argued February 14, 15, 1934Decided March 5, 1934291 U.S. 442CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEALS
62 App.D.C. 259, 66 F.2d 564, reversed in part. Page 291 U. S. 443
Certiorari, 290 U.S. 618, to review the reversal of a decree commanding the Chief of Finance of the Army to satisfy claims of the plaintiff for retired military pay and allowances, enjoining the Comptroller General from interfering, and requiring him to return from his files to a disbursing officer a voucher upon which he had rendered an adverse advance decision. Page 291 U. S. 448
The petitioner served as an enlisted man in the Philippine Scouts under successive enlistments from October 1, 1901, until October 31, 1931, at which time, upon proper Page 291 U. S. 449 application, he was, by order of the Secretary of War acting for the President, placed on the retired list of the army with the rank of master sergeant in pursuance of the Act of March 2, 1907, c. 2515, 34 Stat. 1217, which provides:
Petitioner thereupon brought this suit in the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia to enjoin the Comptroller General from interfering with the respondent Coleman, Chief of Finance, or with any finance or disbursing officer of the Army, to prevent payment to petitioner of the retired pay and allowances due for the month of November and subsequent months, and to enjoin and command the Comptroller General to return forthwith to the disbursing officer the voucher then being retained in the files of his office. The bill further sought to enjoin and command respondent Coleman, Chief of Finance, to pay or cause to be paid to petitioner such retired pay and Page 291 U. S. 450 allowances for November and subsequent months. Motions of respondents to dismiss the bill were denied by the Supreme Court of the District, and thereupon respondents filed separate answers. A motion to strike these answers and for a decree in favor of petitioner was granted by the Supreme Court of the District. Final decree against respondents followed in accordance with the prayer of the bill.
No appearance is made here by respondent Coleman, and no brief filed or argument made in his behalf. The Solicitor General, however, has filed a comprehensive brief (in which the Judge Advocate General of the War Department joins) urging the correctness of the petitioner's contention and uniting with him in challenging the decision below. The Comptroller General, contending that the decision is right and should be affirmed, states the point of inquiry to be whether the Chief of Finance and the Comptroller General can be compelled by mandatory injunction, the one to pay or cause to be paid the voucher in question and the other to approve and allow credit for such payment, after the latter, on application for a decision by the disbursing officer before whom the Page 291 U. S. 451 voucher was pending for payment, has rendered his decision holding such payment not authorized under existing appropriations.
In Roberts v. United States, 176 U. S. 221, this Court held that, where the proper construction of a statute is Page 291 U. S. 452 clear, the duty of an officer called upon to act under it is ministerial in its nature, and may be compelled by mandamus. The opinion points out (p. 176 U. S. 231) that every such statute to some extent requires construction by the officer; that he must read the law, and therefore, in a certain sense, construe it in order to form a judgment from its language what duty he is required to perform.
Petitioner enlisted under this act, and it does not admit of doubt that thereby he enlisted "for service in the Army" as a member of the organization of Philippine Scouts. One who enlists for service in the Army certainly Page 291 U. S. 453 becomes "an enlisted man . . . in the Army," and when he "shall have served thirty years" therein, he falls within the plain terms of the Act of March 2, 1907, supra, and, in accordance therewith, is entitled to "be placed upon the retired list" with the pay and allowances therein prescribed. Statutory provisions so clear and precise do not require construction. In such case, as this Court has often held, the language is conclusive. "There can be no construction where there is nothing to construe." United States v. Shreveport Grain Co., 287 U. S. 77, 287 U. S. 83, and cases cited.
The court below cites § 26 of the National Defense Act of June 3, 1916, 39 Stat. 166, 185; §§ 22 and 26 of the Act of June 4, 1920, 41 Stat. 759, 770, 775, and § 17 of the Act of June 10, 1922, 42 Stat. 625, 632, in support of its view that this is a case of "doubtful inference from statutes of uncertain meaning" in the sense of the rule stated in Wilbur v. United States, supra, hereinbefore quoted. But those sections fail, in our opinion, to disclose anything which conflicts with the positive words of § 36 of the Act of 1901, supra. Section 26 of the 1916 Act simply provides that captains and lieutenants of the Philippine Scouts who are citizens of the United States shall be entitled to retirement under the laws governing retirement of enlisted men of the Regular Army, but to be retired with the grade held by them at the date of their retirement. The section is confined to the officers named, and has nothing to do with enlisted men. The provision was necessary, as pointed out in the brief of the Solicitor General, because, prior to the enactment of the Act of June 4, 1920, supra, these officers were usually enlisted men of other branches of the Regular Army, whose appointments were of a provisional character. Special legislation was therefore required to enable them to retire with the pay and allowances of officers, instead of enlisted men. The provisions in the Act of June 4, 1920, which are referred Page 291 U. S. 454 to, relate to "all officers of the Philippine Scouts," but it is expressly provided that nothing in the act shall alter the status of enlisted men. Section 17 of the Act of June 10, 1922, likewise relates to officers and former officers of the Philippine Scouts, according them the status of officers in the regular establishment, and again it is provided that the act shall not be construed as affecting the enlisted men.
It is said by the Comptroller General that there was no existing appropriation of public money available for payment of retired pay and allowances to petitioner. But this statement quite evidently is made only in the view that the petitioner does not come within the retirement provision of the Act of March 2, 1907, since there was Page 291 U. S. 455 available an existing appropriation for retired pay and allowances of enlisted men retired under that provision.
The Chief of Finance is charged by law with the duty of disbursing all funds of the War Department, including the pay of the Army. U.S.C. Title 10, § 172. The disbursing officer to whom the voucher was presented for payment therefore is simply a subordinate of the Chief of Finance, subject to his control and direction, and the suit was properly brought against the latter. The purpose of the suit was to control the action of the Chief of Finance -- that is, to compel him to pay or cause to be paid the voucher in question. The disbursing officer, as the mere agent of his superior officer, is not an indispensable, although he might have been joined as a proper, party. Compare Warner Valley Stock Co. v. Smith, supra, pp. 165 U. S. 34-35; Gnerich v. Rutter, 265 U. S. 388, 265 U. S. 391-393; Webster v. Fall, 266 U. S. 507; Alcohol Warehouse Corp. v. Canfield, 11 F.2d 214; Dami v. Canfield, 5 F.2d 533. We find no merit in the contention that the United States is a necessary party, and this suit not maintainable without its consent, Payne v. Central Pac. Ry. Co., 255 U. S. 228, 255 U. S. 238; or in the further contention that the suit cannot be maintained because petitioner has a remedy at law in the court of claims for his retired pay. Smith v. Jackson, 246 U. S. 388; 241 F. 747, 760.
As to the Comptroller General a different situation is presented. The request for an advance decision from him came from the Chief of Finance at the request of the disbursing officer. U.S.C. Supp., Title 31, § 74. The Comptroller General undertook nothing on his own Page 291 U. S. 456 motion, and as he asserts, did nothing either to coerce or invite the application for an advance decision. Having given that decision, his function in that regard ceased. The effect of the decision is a matter purely of law. Obviously there is no occasion for compelling him by mandamus to recall his decision. However, he continues to retain possession of the voucher, upon the theory, evidently, that, having determined that the disbursing officers were without authority to make payment, it belongs in the files of his office. The view of the Supreme Court of the District that a mandatory injunction will lie to compel a return of that voucher to the disbursing officer and to enjoin the Comptroller General from any interference with the Chief of Finance tending to prevent payment thereof to petitioner has not, in the light of the case as now made, met with the concurrence of a majority of this Court. In that situation, we therefore affirm, without discussion, the decree of the District Court of Appeals insofar as it relates to the Comptroller General. But it is not to be supposed that, upon having his attention called to our decision, the Comptroller General will care to retain possession of the voucher, or that he will interfere in any way with its payment.