Case Name: CLINTON M. OSTRANDER v. THE UNITED STATES
Court: United States Court of Claims
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1887-04-04
Citations: 22 Ct. Cl. 218
Docket Number: No. 14913
Parties: CLINTON M. OSTRANDER v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 22
Pages: 218–222

Head Matter:
CLINTON M. OSTRANDER v. THE UNITED STATES.
[No. 14913.
Decided April 4, 1887.]
On the defendants7 Demurrer.
A paymaster’s clerk on board the Monocacy, at Canton, China, is appointed acting paymaster, “in accordance with section 1381 Revised Statutes,” and is ordered to “ take charge of the moneys and stores on hoard this vessel in the pay department and perform the duties of paymaster until relieved.” He qualifies under this appointment and performs the duties thereof. On Ootober 22,1884, he is relieved, and pursuant to an order of the Navy Department proceeds to Washington and files his accounts January 23, 1885. They are settled March 19, 1885, of which fact he is notified April 30, 1885, and on June 8, 1885, his appointment is revoked hy the Secretary of the Navy, to take effect from March 19, 1885.
The Revised Statutes (§ 1381) provide “ When the office of paymaster or assistant paymaster becomes vacant, by death or otherwise, in ships at sea, the senior officer present may make an acting appointment of any fit person,, who shall perform the duties thereof until another paymaster shall report ' for duty, and shall be entitled to receive the pay of such grade while so acting.” The continuance of the acting appointment does not depend upon a discharge or revocation. It terminates when another paymaster reports for duty, and the pay continues at farthest only to tlio time when the acting officer’s accounts are made up and filed.
The Reporters7 statement of the case:
In this case the accounting officers, recognizing the fact that the acting paymaster had come to Washington and filed his accounts pursuant to an express order of the Secretary of the Navy, had allowed him pay till that time. What he sought to recover was pay until his appointment was revoked or he was discharged by the Navy- Department. The material allegations of the petition will be found in the opinion of the court.
Mr. P. P. Dewees (with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney-General Howard) for the demurrer:
Claimant did not fill by appointment the official position of acting paymaster of the United States Navy. Commander Higginson had no power to make such an appointment. If the position of acting paymaster is recognized as an official position in the Navy, the right of appointment thereto by section 1378, Revised Statutes, is vested in the President.
Claimant held an acting appointment under the provisions of section 1381, to attend to duties of a paymaster until another paymaster or assistant paymaster should report for duty. He was only entitled to receive the pay of the grade of paymaster while so acting; the act defines no duties except such as relate to the interval between the time the office of paymaster or assistant paymaster becomes vacant, by death or otherwise, in ships at sea, &c., * * * “ until another paymaster or assistant paymaster reports for duty.”
No revocation of the appointment was necessary. Claimant was not appointed to fill an office, but to attend to certain duties. When the officer to whom such duties are usually assigned reported for duty, the object of the appointment was accomplished and the employment ad interim was at an end.
Mr. Charles P. Lincoln, opposed:
From the facts in the petition it follows :
1. That claimant was an officer in the United States Navy.
2. That the fact that the statute authorizing his appointment provides that his duties as such officer shall cease on board the particular vessel on which he may have been originally assigned to duty does not put an end to his official relation or status as an acting paymaster in the Navy.
3. That he can be relieved of his obligation and duty to the Government as such acting paymaster only by the revocation of his appointment by the Secretary of the Navy.
4. That his appointment was revoked by the Secretary of the Navy on the 9th day of June, 1885, to take effect on the 19th day of March, 1885.
5. That while said revocation would be valid from the date-on which he received notice thereof, it nevertheless is inoperative until such date of notice.
6. That, being so inoperative, the claimant was, under his appointment, an acting paymaster of the Navy, in the service of the United States Government, and subject to the rules, regulations, and orders of the Navy Department, and liable to the pains and penalties prescribed for any violation of or non-compliance with the same, and therefore entitled to the compensa tion prescribed by section 1556, Revised Statutes, to the day and date of the proper and legal revocation of his appointment, as claimed in his petition.

Opinion:
Scoeield, J.,
delivered the opinion of the court:
The claimant, while serving as paymaster's clerk on board the United States steamer Monocacy, at Canton, China, was appointed to perform the duties of the paymaster, who had been sent home on account of ill health.
The parties disagree as to the time when the appointment terminated. The claimant contends that it continued until June 9, 1885, at which time it was revoked by the Secretary of the Navy, while the defendants claim that it continued not longer than January 23,1885, at which time he had made up and filed his accounts in the Treasury Department. The appointment is as follows:
" U. S. S. Monocacy, Canton, China,
" May 6,1884.
" Sir : Paymaster H. O. Machette having been pronounced by a medical board of survey physically disqualified to perform his duties, you are hereby appointed acting paymaster in the U. S. Navy in accordance with section 1381, Revised Statutes, and you will take charge of the moneys and stores on board this vessel in the pay department and perform the duties of paymaster until relieved. You will be pleased to inform me in writing of your acceptance of this appointment and subscribe the inclosed oath.
" Respectfully,
" Francis I. Higginson,
" Commander, U. 8. N., Gom'd'g.
"Clinton M. Ostrander,
" Paymaster's Clerk."
The claimant qualified under this appointment and performed the duties thereof until October 22,1884, when, in pursuance of the following order, he turned over to Assistant Paymaster John Corwine the public money and property in his possession and (transportation being furnished him) proceeded to the United States and reported his arrival to the Secretary of the Navy:
" Navy Department,
" Washington, August 25, 1884.
" Sir : On the reporting of your relief) Assistant Paymaster John Corwine, you will make the required transfers to him. regard yourself detached from the Monocaey, proceed home, and on your arrival report by letter to the Department and inform it of the date of your detachment in obedience to this order.
" Respectfully,
"Earl English,
"Acting Secretary Navy.
"O. M. Ostrander,
" Acting Assista/nt Paymaster."
January 23, 1885, the claimant filed his accounts, in which was included a claim for salary to that date. His accounts were finally settled March 19,1885, of which fact he was officially notified April 30,1885.
June 8,1885, he filed a claim for salary from January 23, 1885, to June 8, 1885. The next day he was notified by the Secretary of the Navy that his appointment had been revoked to take effect from March 19, 1885.
The claim for additional salary was disallowed by the accounting officers, and this suit is brought to recover it.
•At what time the claimant's appointment expired must be determined by the law under which it was made; that law is found in section 1381 of the Revised Statues, and is as follows:
" When the office of paymaster or assistant paymaster becomes vacant, by death or otherwise, in ships at sea, or on foreign stations, or on the Pacific coast of the United States, the senior officer present may make an acting appointment of any fit person, who shall perform the duties thereof until another paymaster or assistant paymaster shall report for duty, and shall be entitled to receive the pay of such grade while so acting."
By virtue of an appointment under this law the claimant was authorized to perform the duties of the invalid officer " until another paymaster or assistant paymaster should report for duty." He thereby became entitled " to receive the pay of the grade while so acting," and no longer. No phraseology in the appointment could confer greater rights than is herein authorized. Words which confer more, if any such are employed, are simply void.
October 22, 1884, another paymaster did report for duty, and after that the claimant had no duties to perform under his appointment, except to make up and settle his accounts.
By a strict construction of tbe law tbe claimant's pay would cease when he was relieved from duty by the arrival of another paymaster. The aceounting officers, however, gave it a liberal construction and allowed him transportation from China to Washington, and pay from the time of his appointment to January 23,1885, when his accounts were made up and filed in the Treasury Department.
The claimant contends that his appointment was without limit as to time, except that it was subject to termination by the action of the Secretary of the Navy. According to this theory he would become, through the inattention or indulgence of the Secretary, an acting paymaster for life. We do not so understand the law. In our opinion the appointment was a temporary one to meet the particular emergency and to be terminated when the emergency was over. Beyond that time the Secretary had no power, either by action or non-aetion, to prolong it.
By considering tbe interests of the parties to be reversed; the one struggling to escape further service, and the other demanding it and refusing to revoke the appointment or accept a resignation, the error and injustice of the claimant's contention become very apparent.
The demurrer is sustained.