Case Name: LEWIS A. EATON v. THE UNITED STATES
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1898-02-28
Citations: 33 Ct. Cl. 508
Docket Number: 
Parties: LEWIS A. EATON v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 33
Pages: 508–508

Head Matter:
LEWIS A. EATON v. THE UNITED STATES.
[31 C. Cls. R., 158; 169 U. S. R., 331.]
On the defendants1 Appeal.
Boyd, minister and consul-general at Siam, appoints Eaton vice-consul-general to act during liis absence, and returns to the United States. He is allowed and paid half his salary while on leave of absence for sixty days, but nothing subsequently. Eaton gives a bond prescribed by the Department; performs the duties of minister and consul-general, and his temporary appointment is regarded by the Department as being required by the emergency.
The court below decides:
1. It has long been settled that a vice-consul, acting during the absence of his superior or during a vacancy in the office, shall be compensated from the salary of that office. The same principle applies to a vice-consul-general.
2. Vice-consular officers are those who replace the chief of post during his absence, and are not to be confounded with deputy consular officers, who act during the presence of the superior.
3. The coinpeusationof a vice-consular officer acting during his principal’s absence is paid out of the compensation of his principal, and may extend beyond a period of sixty days.
4. A vice-consul’s compensation begins with his principal’s absence, and not with the approval of his bond.
5. Consular fees received for unofficial and notarial services, and for fees and fines collected in the consular courts, are not for services required by the Revised Statutes (§ 4120) or by the Consular Regulations, 1888; they belong to the consul.
The decision of the court beiow is affirmed, except as to one item amounting to $67.91, which is disallowed.
February 28, 1898.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice White
delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court