PROVISIONS OF THE REVISED STATUTES OF THE UNITED STATES CONCERNING THE COURT OF CLAIMS, SEC. 1049. The Court of Claims, established by Judges. the act of February twenty-four, eighteen hundred and fifty-five, shall be continued. It shall consist of a chief-justice and four judges, who shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, and hold their offices during good behavior. Each of them shall take an oath to support the Constitution of the United States, and to discharge faithfully the duties of his office, and shall be entitled to receive an annual salary of four thousand five hundred dollars, payable quarterly from the Treasury. SEC. 1050. The Court of Claims shall have a seal Seal. with such device as it may order. &c., how provid SEC. 1051. It shall be the duty of the Speaker Court rooms, of the House of Representatives to appropriate ed." such rooms in the Capitol, at Washington, for the use of the Court of Claims, as may be necessary for their accommodation, unless it appears to him that such rooms cannot be so appropriated without interfering with the business of Congress. In that case, the court shall procure, at the city of Wash ington, such rooms as may be necessary for the transaction of their business. SEC. 1052. The Court of Claims shall hold one annual session, at the city of Washington, begin. ning on the first Monday in December, and continuing as long as may be necessary for the prompt disposition of the business of the court. And any two of the judges of said court shall constitute a quorum, and may hold a court for the transaction of business.* SEC. 1053. The said court shall appoint a chief clerk, an assistant clerk, if deemed necessary, a bailiff, and a messenger. The clerks shall take an oath for the faithful discharge of their duties, and shall be under the direction of the court in the performance thereof; and for misconduct or incapacity they may be removed by it from office; but the court shall report such removals, with the cause thereof, to Congress, if in session, or, if not, at the next session. The bailiff shall hold his office for a term of four years, unless sooner removed by the court for cause. SEC. 1054. The salary of the chief clerk shall be three thousand dollars a year, of the assistant clerk two thousand dollars a year, of the bailiff fifteen hundred dollars a year, and of the messenger eight hundred and forty dollars a year, payable quarterly from the Treasury. SEC. 1055. The chief clerk shall give bond to the United States in such amount, in such form, and with such security as shall be approved by the Secretary of the Treasury. SEC. 1056. The said clerk shall have authority, when he has given bond as provided in the preceding section, to disburse, under the direction of the court, the contingent fund which may from time to time be appropriated for its use; and his accounts shall be settled by the proper accounting-officers * Amended by act of June 23, 1874, chap. 468, (Acts of 1873-4, p. 252,) enacting "that any three judges of the Court of Claims shall constitute a quorum: Provided, That the concurrence of three judges shall be necessary to the decision of any case." of the Treasury in the same way as the accounts of other disbursing agents of the Government are settled. SEC. 1057. On the first day of every December Reports to Congress, copies for session of Congress, the clerk of the Court of Claims Departments, &c. shall transmit to Congress a full and complete statement of all the judgments rendered by the court during the previous year, stating the amounts thereof and the parties in whose favor they were rendered, together with a brief synopsis of the nature of the claims upon which they were rendered. And at the end of every term of the court he shall transmit a copy of its decisions to the heads of Departments; to the Solicitor, the Comptrollers, and the Auditors of the Treasury; to the Commissioners of the General Land-Office and of Indian Affairs; to the chiefs of bureaus, and to other offi cers charged with the adjustment of claims against the United States. SEC. 1058. Members of either House of Congress Members of shall not practice in the Court of Claims. Congress not to practice in the court. Sec. 1076. Power to call upon Depart- 1078. Witnesses not excluded on ac- 1079. Parties and persons interested 1082. Witnesses, how compelled to 1083. Cross-examination. Jurisdiction. See. 1084. Witnesses, how sworn. 1086. Claims forfeited for fraud. 1033. New trial on motion of United 1089. Payment of judgments. 1091. Interest on claims. 1092. Payment of judgment a full discharge, &c. 1093. Final judgments a bar. SEC. 1059. The Court of Claims shall have juris Claims founded diction to hear and determine the following matters: on statutes or contracts, or referred by Congress. Set-off's and counter-claims of United States. Disbursing offi cers. Claims for cap tured and abandoned property. First. All claims founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an Executive Department, or upon any contract, expressed or implied, with the Government of the United States, and all claims which may be referred to it by either House of Congress. Second. All sets-offs, counter-claims, claims for damages, whether liquidated or unliquidated, or other demands whatsoever, on the part of the Government of the United States against any person making claim against the Government in said court. Third. The claim of any paymaster, quartermas ter, commissary of subsistence, or other disbursingofficer of the United States, or of his administrators or executors, for relief from responsibility on account of capture or otherwise, while in the line of his duty, of Government funds, vouchers, records, or papers in his charge, and for which such officer was and is held responsible. Fourth. Of all claims for the proceeds of captured or abandoned property, as provided by the act of March 12, eighteen hundred and sixty-three, chapter one hundred and twenty, entitled "An act to provide for the collection of abandoned property and for the prevention of frauds in insurrectionary districts within the United States," or by the act of July two, eighteen hundred and sixty-four, chapter two hundred and twenty-five, being an act in addition thereto: Provided, That the remedy given in cases of seizure under the said acts, by preferring claim, in the Court of Claims, shall be exclusive, precluding the owner of any property taken by agents of the Treasury Department as abandoned or captured property in virtue or under color of said acts from suit at common law, or any other mode of redress whatever, before any court other than the said Court of Claims: Provided, also, That the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims shall not extend to any claim against the United States growing out of the destruction or appropria tion of, or damage to, property by the Army or Navy engaged in the suppression of the rebellion.* SEC. 1060. All petitions and bills praying or Private claims in Congress, when providing for the satisfaction of private claims transmitted to Court of Claims. against the Government, founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an Executive Department, or upon any contract, expressed or implied, with the Government of the United States, shall, unless otherwise ordered by resolution of the House in which they are introduced, be transmitted by the Secretary of the Senate or the Clerk of the House of Representatives, with all the accompanying documents, to the Court of Claims. set-off or counter forced. en SEC. 1061. Upon the trial of any cause in which Judgments for any set-off, counter-claim, claim for damages, or claim, how other demand is set up on the part of the Government! against any person making claim against the Government in said court, the court shall hear and determine such claim or demand both for and against the Government and claimant; and if upon the whole case it finds that the claimant is indebted to the Government, it shall render judgment to that effect, and such judgment shall be final, with the right of appeal, as in other cases provided for by *This second proviso was added in the "Act to correct errors and to supply omissions in the Revised Statutes," approved February 18, 1875. Appendix to Revised Statutes, 1433. |