Scheid v. United States

52 Ct. Cl. 247, 1917 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 190, 1917 WL 1314
CourtUnited States Court of Claims
DecidedFebruary 26, 1917
DocketNo. 30479
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 52 Ct. Cl. 247 (Scheid v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Court of Claims primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Scheid v. United States, 52 Ct. Cl. 247, 1917 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 190, 1917 WL 1314 (cc 1917).

Opinion

Downey, Judge,

reviewing the facts found to be established, delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff in this case, during the period in question, was an enlisted man in the Marine Corps, and he seeks to recover extra-duty pay at the rate of 35 cents per day for services performed as clerk in the first sergeant’s office from [255]*255July 16 to September 80,1904, and as sergeant major’s clerk from October 1, 1904, to January 31, 1905, and as clerk in the commanding officer’s office from February 2 to 28, 1905, all at the Marine Barracks, League Island, Pennsylvania. It appears that this service was performed pursuant to verbal orders of the commanding officer. The claim is predicated upon the act of March 3, 1885, and particularly upon the proviso contained in the paragraph of that act making appropriation for incidental expenses, under the subhead

Quartermaster’s Department,” as follows:

“Provided, That two hundred and fifty thousand dollars of this sum, or so much of it as shall be necessary, shall be set aside for the payment of enlisted men on extra duty at constant labor of not less than ten days, and such extra-duty pay hereafter shall be at the rate of fifty cents per day for mechanics, artisans, school-teachers, and clerks at Army, division, and department headquarters and thirty-five cents per day for other clerks, teamsters, laborers, and others.”

This provision, except as to the amount, followed substantially a provision carried in the preceding act of July 5, 1884, 23 Stat., 108.

Section 1287 of the Revised Statutes had provided the rate of extra-duty pay for soldiers detailed for employment as artificers or laborers in the construction of permanent military works, public roads, or other constant labor of not less than 10 days’ duration. This court has construed this provision in the act of March 3, 1885, as amendatory of section 1287 (Ross's case, 49 C. Cls., 55), and that construction was, at least for the purposes of that case, approved by the Supreme Court. United States v. Ross, 239 U. S., 530.

It is contended by counsel for the defendant that this provision in the act of 1885 was not general legislation, and that it was applicable only to the Quartermaster’s Department. The contention as to applicability to the Quartermaster’s Department only would undoubtedly hold if it were with reference to the appropriation made by the paragraph from which the quotation is taken, since that appropriation, under every rule of construction, must be regarded as applicable only to the particular branch of the service for which made, and to this contention the citation of counsel, with reference [256]*256to the subsequent incorporation in this proviso in the act of March 15, 1898, of the words “ Quartermaster’s Department ” would lend weight, but it is to be observed that those words when incorporated in the last-mentioned act, were clearly applicable to the use to be made of the particular sum appropriated by that act. But it can scarcely be concluded, because the particular appropriation must necessarily be limited to the uses of that particular branch of the service, that other language coupled therewith may not have a more general application. But for that language fixing the rate of extra-duty pay the provisions of section 1287 must necessarily have applied to payments to be made for extra duty out of that appropriation, and according to counsel’s theory it would necessarily result that the provisions of that act must amend section 1287 for the purposes of the Quartermaster’s Department. But section 1287 was not limited in its operation to the Quartermaster’s Department, and it is scarcely reasonable to conclude that Congress intended to amend section 1287 for the purposes of that particular branch of the service and leave it operative in its original form for the rest of the service. It is to be noted, also, that in fixing the rate of pay classes are included which are not within section 1287 and which bear no particular or exclusive relation to the Quartermaster’s Department. The word “ hereafter,” as used in that proviso, is the word commonly used by Congress when it is intended to make of the provision in which it is used permanent legislation, and we see no reason now for departing from the former holding that the language of that proviso was permanent in its character so far as the rate of extra-duty pay was concerned and amended section 1287.

In this connection there is for consideration, then, two other matters. The first is the fact that section 1612 of the statute gives to enlisted men of the Marine Corps the same pay as enlisted men of the Army, and the other is that for the same fiscal year for which the appropriation act, in which appears the proviso quoted, was made, there also appeared, in the Navy appropriation act, under the subhead “ Marine Corps,” and in the appropriation for contingencies therefor, [257]*257the words “for * * * per diem to enlisted men employed on constant labor for periods of not less than ten days * * It is also noticeable, in this connection, that for the fiscal year 1905, within which the services claimed for were rendered, the Army appropriation act, under the subhead “Incidental Expenses, Quartermaster’s Department,” makes the appropriation available for extra-duty pay to soldiers employed on extra duty for periods of not less than ten days, without any specific provision therein as to the rate of pay, and that the Navy appropriation act for that year, under the subhead “ Contingent, Marine Corps,” also makes an appropriation which, among other purposes, is available for “per diem of enlisted men employed on constant labor for a period of not less than ten days.”

It is also contended, on behalf of the defendant, that there can be no recovery in this case because the detail was not in writing. This question has been heretofore considered by this court as well as by the Supreme Court, and it has been held that the section of the statutes providing for details in writing was not intended to preclude a recovery of extra-duty pay to which a man might be entitled under the law where it appeared he had been detailed to such extra duty by competent authority and that the extra duty had been actually performed. Ross’s case, supra; Holthaus’s case, decided by this court May 6, 1907; Nookle’s case, 14 Comp. Dec., 151.

Finding IV sets out paragraph 446 of a System of Accountability, United States Marine Corps, approved by the Secretary of the Navy, in compliance with the request of counsel for the defendant. Its effect, if any, upon claimant’s rights in the present case, is for our consideration. It is, as stated, a paragraph in a “ System of Accountability.” Some light is thrown upon its purpose by the following paragraph :

“ 447. Soldiers on extra duty will be paid the extra rates of pay allowed by law for the duty performed and for the exact number of days employed; and no greater number of men will be employed on extra duty at any time than can be paid the full legal rates for the time employed from the funds provided. Payments made in violation of the above [258]*258rules will be charged against the officers who ordered the details.”

The concluding sentence of the last-quoted paragraph indicates that these provisions are administrative in their character and go largely to questions of accountability upon the part of officers charged with certain duties.

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Holdridge v. United States
57 Ct. Cl. 253 (Court of Claims, 1922)

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Bluebook (online)
52 Ct. Cl. 247, 1917 U.S. Ct. Cl. LEXIS 190, 1917 WL 1314, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/scheid-v-united-states-cc-1917.