Shurtleff v. United States

The appellant seeks to review a judgment of the court of claims denying his right to be paid the salary pertaining to the office of a general appraiser of merchandise and accruing between May 15 and November 1, 1899. The court refused to decree payment of the claim on the ground that he was not one of the appraisers during the time for which he demanded such salary.

The facts, as they appear in the findings of the court of claims, are that the appellant was nominated on July 17, 1890, to be one of the general appraisers of merchandise under the act of June 10, 1890, chapter 407 (26 Stat. at L. 131, U.S.C.omp. Stat. 1901, p. 1886), and that nomination was consented to on the following day by the Senate, and the appellant was thereupon commissioned to be such general appraiser of merchandise. He accepted that office and took the oath required on July 24, 1890, and remained in such office and was paid the salary attached thereto up to May 15, 1899. On May 3 of that year he received the following communication from the President:

Executive Mansion,

Washington, D. C., May 3, 1899.

Sir:--

You are hereby removed from the office of general appraiser     of merchandise, to take effect upon the appointment and      qualification of your successor.

William McKinley.

The appellant never resigned his office nor acquiesced in any attempted removal therefrom, and he was never notified or informed of any charges made against him, either of inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office, and he knows of no cause for his removal from the office having been ascertained or assigned by the President.

Since May 15, 1899, he has been ready and willing and offered to discharge the duties of the office, and has not been paid any salary since that date. He has made monthly demand upon the Treasury Department for the salary attaching to the office from May 15 to November 1, and such demand has been refused.

On May 12, 1899, an appointment was made during the recess of the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of the petitioner from his office, and such appointment was to be in effect not longer than to the end of the next session of the Senate of the United States. The appointee under that commission took the oath of office and entered upon the duties thereof on May 12, 1899, and has received pay as such officer, beginning on May 19, 1899, up to the present time. On December 15, 1899, he was nominated to the Senate and the nomination to that office was confirmed on January 17, 1900, and he was commissioned by the President under the above confirmation on January 22, 1900, and took the oath of office under that appointment on January 26, 1900, and since that time has remained in the office to which he was so appointed.

Upon these findings the court of claims decided as a conclusion of law that the appellant was not entitled to recover, and his petition was therefore dismissed.

Mr. Edwin B. Smith and Messrs. Smith & Barker for appellant.

Assistant Attorney General Pradt for appellee.

Mr. Justice Peckham, after making the foregoing statement of facts, delivered the opinion of the court: