Case Name: JOHN G. FOSTER v. THE UNITED STATES
Court: Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1888-11-19
Citations: 24 Ct. Cl. 523
Docket Number: 
Parties: JOHN G. FOSTER v. THE UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Reporter: United States Court of Claims Reports
Volume: 24
Pages: 523–523

Head Matter:
JOHN G. FOSTER v. THE UNITED STATES.
[23 C. Cls. R., 90; 128 U. S. R., 435.]
On the defendants’ Appeal.
Prior to 1862 the claimant serves as an enlisted man in the Navy for six years. In November, 1861, he is appointed gunner; in April, 1868, he resigns; in December, 1869, he is re-appointed. He has been allowed longevity pay only upon his second warrant as gunner.
The court below decides:
The Act 3 March, 1883 (22 Stat. L., 473), which directs that officers in the . Navy shall receive all the benefits of actual service “ as if all said . service had been continuous, and in the lowest grade having graduated pay, held hy such officer since last entering the service,” entitles a warrant officer to credit for all the time he held a warrant as gunner, though there may have been an interval during' which he was not in the service.
The decision of the court' below is reversed on the ground that the longevity acts of 1882 and 1883 do not require or authorize a. restatement of the pay accounts of an officer of the Navy who served in the regular or volunteer Army or Navy, so as to give him credit in the grade held by him prior .to their passage, for the time he served in the Army or Navy before reaching that grade.

Opinion:
Mr. Justice Hablan
delivered the opinion of the Supreme Court November 19,1888.