Source: https://www.legalcrystal.com/case/84715/united-states-vs-flanders
Timestamp: 2017-12-11 05:53:33
Document Index: 436371987

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 34', '§ 34', '§ 3', '§ 957', '§ 3', '§ 115']

United States Vs Flanders - Citation 84715 - Court Judgment | LegalCrystal
United States Vs. Flanders - Court Judgment
LegalCrystal Citation legalcrystal.com/84715
Case Number 112 U.S. 88
Respondent Flanders
united states v. flanders - 112 u.s. 88 (1884) u.s. supreme court united states v. flanders, 112 u.s. 88 (1884) united states v. flanders argued october 20, 1884 decided november 3, 1884 112 u.s. 88 i n error to the circuit court of the united states for the eastern district of louisiana syllabus a person appointed and commissioned as a collector of internal revenue, under the act of july 1, 1862, 12 stat. 432, is entitled to the compensation, provided for by § 34 of that act, of a percentage commission to be computed on the moneys accounted for and paid over by him, from the time he enters on the duties of his office and his services are accepted, and not merely from the time he takes the oath of office and files his.....
United States v. Flanders - 112 U.S. 88 (1884)
U.S. Supreme Court United States v. Flanders, 112 U.S. 88 (1884)
The bill of exceptions sets forth that there was evidence tending to show that Denison was appointed collector by a commission dated March 4, 1863; that he took the oath of office and executed his bond as such collector on the fifteenth of May, 1863, and remained in office until the 11th of December, 1863; that his accounts were adjusted by the accounting officers of the Treasury at various dates subsequent to June 3, 1864, but in these adjustments he had not concurred, and the proper notice had been given to lay the foundation for the introduction of evidence as to the additional credits claimed; that he entered upon the discharge of his official duty as collector on the 11th of March, 1863, and continued so to act until December 11, 1863, and that his accounts were regularly transmitted monthly during his whole term of office, and at the end thereof, and all prior to June 30, 1864. The counsel for the plaintiffs asked the court to instruct the jury that Denison was not entitled to any compensation as collector prior to May 15, 1863, the date on which he gave the bond and took the oath of office. The court refused to give that instruction, but instead thereof gave the following: that the government could have properly refused to allow Denison to assume the office of collector until he had taken the oath of office and given the
The compensation to which Denison was entitled was at the rate of $10,000 a year, under § 34 of the Act of July 1, 1862, 12 Stat. 445. That § allows the compensation to the collector "appointed," in full compensation for his services and those of his deputies. The compensation is by a specified
In Andrews v. United States, 2 Story 202, which was a suit
on the bond of a collector of customs, MR. JUSTICE STORY held that expenditures by a collector of customs for office rent, fuel, clerk hire, and stationery were properly to be deemed incidents to the office, and ought therefore to be allowed as proper charges against the United States, and as a setoff in the suit. In that case, the statute required the collector to keep and transmit accounts of those particular expenditures. The Treasury Department disallowed them, but the court held that the statute contemplated their allowance, and that the collector had a right to be reimbursed their amount, even though he did not keep or transmit the accounts of them. The view taken was that if a claim, though not strictly of a legal nature, was ex aequo et bono due to the defendant for moneys expended on account of and for the benefit of the United States, he was entitled to an allowance and compensation therefor, upon the footing of a quantum meruit, under § 3 of the Act of March 3, 1797, 1 Stat. 514. That statute is now embodied in § 957 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that in all suits against a person accountable for public moneys, he may show that he is equitably entitled to credits which have been rejected. In United States v. Wilkins, 6 Wheat. 135, 19 U. S. 144 , this Court said of § 3 of the act of 1797 that it supposed that "not merely legal but equitable credits ought to be allowed to debtors of the United States by the proper officers of the Treasury," that all such credits could be allowed at the trial of the suit, and that a judgment was required for such sum only as the defendant, in equity and justice, should be proved to owe to the United States. This view was affirmed in Gratiot v. United States, 15 Pet. 336, 40 U. S. 370 , and in Watkins v. United States, 9 Wall. 759, 76 U. S. 765 .
In the present case, the statute required the advertisements to be made, and there is nothing in it which implies that they are to be paid for out of the compensation to be allowed, or that they are not to be reimbursed because they are not named with stationery and blank books, or because "advertising" was first inserted in the act of 1865. In § 115 of the same Act of July 1, 1862, 12 Stat. 488, it was provided that the pay of collectors should be paid out of the accruing internal
duties or taxes before they were paid into the Treasury, and $500,000 was appropriated "for the purpose of paying" various specified expenses, including "advertising, and any other expenses of carrying this act into effect." This advertising was an expense of carrying the act into effect, and was aside from the pay of the collector, and was to be paid out of the Treasury, as an expense. The allowance of it by the accounting officers, or otherwise, was not a prerequisite to the right of Denison to have it credited to him in this suit. Campbell v. United States, 107 U. S. 407 .