Page:United States Reports, Volume 2.djvu/215

 _ I Sisztaeite Cotnvr or I’¢n»w!·t·¤ni¢. act; i ‘* pay to the faid navy officers was to place them vn a fwring I793 · •*‘ with the oliicers of the army, that the officers of the navy of •< the 24Ih ofMar¢b, 1779, and confirmed by afi of Afl`eml.•ly, tt paffed the rft of Mart·br78o, be allowed five years full payin •• ner, thatthe officers of the army, in the line of this State, are •* or {hall fe paid, and that their accounts be liquidated and fer; “ tled by the comptroller general, and certificates given them." From the foregoing it appears, that a diltinftion has been made, as to the time when the half pay fhould commence, be- tween the officers of the army in the line of this State, and thofe of the State-Navy; the half pay of the former is confin- _ ed to fueh of them as fhould continue in the fervice of the United Stare: during lb: ·w.·n·, and was to commence at the rcnclua jangf tb: war; but that of the latter was to commence at the time of their drj.-burg: from ferviec; The plaintiff was lton0· rably difcharged from fervice on the rgth of Frbrunry l']8l, and was inconteffibly entitled to half pay from that time, until. the zgth of March, 1 784, when he commuted his half pay for life, for five years full pay. The fole queffion then is, whether this aft of commutation has barred the recovery of the half pay then due to him, to wit, for three years, one month, and twelve days, as well as his future lialf pay? _, It has been contended for the Commonwealth, that his ac; cepting a certificate for five years full pay, is a bar to the arrea- rages;_for, that by arefolve of Gangrgfr of the 22d of March, 1783, adopted by the Affembly, on the 22d of September, 1783, it is directed, " that, with ref`pe& to retiring/officers, " entitled to half pay for life, the commutation, if accepted by “ them, {hall bein lieu of wb.·:.'¢vcr may be nav du: la tbrmjntc “ tb: time gf rlwir retiring from j£·1—ui¢:.” On this the wholé difficulty rcfpeéling the plaintiff": claim reffs. _ ln anfwer, it has been aflérted (and acccded to) that the plaintiff} at the time he received his certificate from the Comptroller General, as well as the other Navy-Officers, gave him notice, that they meant not thereby to relinquith the arrears . of half pay then due to them refpedively; and it was farther contended, that the laft mentioned Refolves did not relate to the officers of the State·Navy of P¢·nn6·/vmnh, but to the officers of the army, in the fervice of the United Sm.-: only. It appears to me, that the elaufe in the Refolve of the 22d of September, 1 78 3, relates to retiring officers of the rn-my, and that the navy of the State of Pmnjelvunia was not at all then in the contemplation of the Congrefs, or Affemblyr Befides, none of the officers of the State Navy had mi:-ed; but the plaintiff and · four Ot five others had been ltanorafrfv zh}’&l·a»ged from the fer: D tl vice
 * this State, entitled to half payfor life, under the rehilutlons of
 * • lieu thereof, to be paid at the fame time, and in the fame mans

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