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CLEMENTS, BRYANT & Co., (continued.)

The contractors are entitled, in strict law, to the difference between the contract price of the provisions they were bound to furnish and the actual value or market price of them in the country where they were to be supplied; but, by the act of March 3, 1841, the accounting officers are bound to call for proof that the provisions were actually procured to be furnished, and loss on them actually sustained, before making any allowance whatever.

The act of March 3, 1841, which is a positive enactment specially applicable to the case, so far alters the common rule upon the subject of damages for breach of an executory contract, as to supersede that rule, and must govern the department.. See also......

CLERK TO COMMANDANT OF THE MARINE CORPS.

...

In case the public service shall demand it, the commandant of the marine corps may employ a clerk in his office who shall not be of the corps; yet it is doubtful, perhaps, whether any part of the appropriation made for pay and subsistence can be paid to any person not an integral part of the corps.... CLERKS TO PAYMASTERS.

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There is no provision of law which authorize the employment of persons for clerks to paymasters others than non-commissioned officers; yet the department, in the exercise of its general powers, may allow a private citizen to be employed when no capable non-commissioned officer can be obtained....

The department may take the highest pay allowed by the laws now in force to any non-commissioned officer of the corps to which the person employed as paymaster's clerk belongs, as the standard of compensation, and may allow him double the

the same..

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If the accounting officers are satisfied that Paymaster Andrews had authority to employ clerks to assist in paying the militia and volunteers, they may allow him a reasonable compensation for them, irrespective of the act of July, 1838.... The act of 1838 relates to clerks of paymasters paying the regular army, and not to the paying of militia and volunteers... CLERKS, in Patent Office-(see Appointment).

(see Extra Compensation).

CLOTHING, ready made, (see Duties).
COASTING TRADE.

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Foreign vessels, owned wholly by citizens of the United States, may be lawfully engaged in the coasting trade; but the cargoes must consist of domestic goods, other than distilled spirits.....

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And such trade is legitimate in vessels owned wholly by citizens of the United States, whether they have been registered, enrolled, licensed, or recorded, or not...... The terms upon which they may be employed, however, are different where they have been registered, &c., from those of vessels which are not; but, subject to these terms, the right to trade is as clear in the one case as the other........ 1595 But subjects of foreign powers are, by the act of 1817, incompetent to import any goods, wares, or merchandise from one port of the United States to another, in any vessel of which he may be the owner, in whole or in part; yet citizens of the United States are untouched by the act, and left to the enjoyment of the privileges conferred by the acts of 1792 and 1793...

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The only liability incurred by foreign-built vessels wholly owned by citizens, employed in trade from port to port in the United States, is that of paying the tonnage duties chargeable upon foreign vessels.....

There can be no distinction made between the towing of vessels carrying merchandise and the carrying of the same.......

Registered vessels engaged in the coasting trade are subject to the payment of hospital money, and collectors are required to collect it....

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Foreign ships or vessels may carry passengers from port to port in the United States, except steamboats employed on rivers and harbors, subject to the conditions as to fees, tonnage, duties, &c., prescribed by the act of 1793, and other laws of the United States...

COAST SURVEY.

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The costs of repairs and supplies furnished to certain vessels employed by the President in prosecuting the coast survey, must fall upon the appropriation made by Congress for the survey of the coast....

Yet, if vessels are detailed from the navy or from the revenue service for temporary service in the coast survey, they may be repaired from funds provided by Congress for the branch of the public service to which such vessels properly belong....

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COLLINS, E. K., CONTRACT WITH FOR STEAMSHIPS.
Congress having contemplated the construction of five steam-ships for the mail ser-
vice and for the ultimate augmentation of the naval armament, and having au-
thorized advances to be made therefor only upon each of them after it should
be launched, and the contractors having received the ratable proportion of the
amount authorized upon the four of them now afloat, no further advances can be
legally made until the fifth shall be launched...

The advances of money authorized were intended to be so made as to insure and has-
ten the building of every one of the five ships contracted for..
The opinion delivered on the 20th August, 1850, is reconsidered; and although the
provisions of the act of 3d August, 1848, are susceptible of a different construction,
the Attorney General adheres to the construction before given, as being most con-
formable to the language of the said act....

If, however, the Secretary of the Treasury shall adopt, from equitable considerations
arising from the fact that the four steamers already built are equal in power and
tonnage to the five contracted for, and fully adequate to the mail service, or for
any other reason, a different construction may not be improper..

COLLOT...

COLONIZATION SOCIETY-(See Slave Trade.)
COLORED TROOPS ( (See Bounty Lands.)
COLUMBIA COLLEGE.

A legal quorum of trustees being present for the transaction of business, and it be
ing an ounced, in order to proceed to the election to fill a vacancy in the board,
and the majority of the quorum voting for an individual who was thereupon
declared elected, the election is valid....

COMMISSION-See Army, Brevets, Militia, Navy compensation.
COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC BUILDINGS..

-of the United States..

to execute treaties....

of United States Bank.

to make investigations...

COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS.

Where double duties are the fruits of a compromise, in a case of forfeiture, the col-
lector prosecuting is as much entitled to his moiety of them as he would have been
to his moiety of the forfeiture which they represent...
The surveyor of Petersburg is entitled to the salary fixed by law, he having been duly
commissioned as a surveyor, having been called on to perform, and having perform-
ed faithfully, the duties of the office, even though he did not reside there..
By the acquiescence of the Government, and the construction given in several judicial
decisions, entitled to respect, the act of the 7th of May, 1822, in relation to the com-
pensation of officers of the customs, is not deemed to work a repeal of the act of 2d
of March, 1799, in relation to the same subject..
The compensation of officers of the customs is to be regulated and graduated by the
importations of the present year; and the act of July 21, 1840, merely substituting
the present for the year 1838....

The act of the 3d of March, 1841, making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic
expenses of the Government for the year 1841, was intended to restrain the incomes
or annual emoluments of the officers therein mentioned as such, from all sources
whatever, connected with the performance of the duties of their office, to the sums
there mentioned....

Whether the allowance for agency of marine hospitals, superintendence of lighthouses, and certificates for wines and teas, are fairly included within the purview of the statute, depends on the question whether these objects come within the sphere of the collector's duty, &c...

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The act of 1799, giving authority to collectors to employ occasional inspectors and others in aid of the revenue, did not authorize them to apply occasional persons to perform clerical duties in custom-houses, and to pay them out of the revenue. 1622 The expense of clerk-hire in the custom-houses cannot be charged upon the Treasury, except in the cases provided for by the act of 1838....

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COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS OF THE CUSTOMS, (continued.)

The act of 7th July, 1838, does not change the aspect of the case of clerks as provided by act of 17th May, 1822, its object only being to allow them, to a certain extent, the fees and emoluments which, but for the operation of the acts of 1832 and 1833, they would have received, and limiting allowances according to the importations of the year...

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Collectors of customs, acting as superintendents of light-houses, are entitled to commissions upon disbursements made by them in that capacity, subject to the limitation imposed by the 18th section of the act of May 7, 1822..

...

The compensation of collectors, naval officers, and surveyors depends on the amount received from the sources enumerated in the acts of 1822 and 1841, read togetherto the maximum of $4,000, $3,000, and $2,500 for commissions upon duties; and to $2,000 from the sources enumerated in the 5th section of the act of 1841; and is in each case separately dependent on the fund derived from such sources respectively..

Collectors of customs, who are made superintendents of light-houses, may receive commissions on their disbursements...

Opinion of 22d September, 1843, reconsidered and re-affirmed..

Officers of the customs are not entitled to additional compensation under the provisions of the 3d section of the act of 7th July, 1838, the same having been rendered nugatory by reason of the repeal of the act upon which it was based and the enactment of another law upon the subject.....

The compensation of officers of the customs is fixed by the act of 1840, which contains new and different provisions.

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Where a surveyor of the port of Cincinnati neglected to collect certain duties properly certified by the collector at New Orleans as due and payable there in cash, but permitted the goods upon which they were chargeable to be delivered to the importers, he only retaining their bonds, taken pursuant to the act of 2d March, 1831, and afterwards being found in default at the Treasury for such duties, was superseded in office, and a portion of such duties subsequently collected and paid into the Treassury by the successor, to whom the bonds were turned over, and the question as to whether either, and which of the two surveyors are entitled to be credited with commissions on the moneys thus collected, having arisen-DECIDED, that the delinquent surveyor is not, but that his successor is entitled to the commissions established by law upon the duties thus collected and paid over..... 2115 Commissions on customs were intended as a compensation for a faithful performance of the duty of the officer collecting the revenue, and are not due to an officer who has not collected nor received such revenue, but who, in violation of his duty, devolved its collection on his successor.....

COMPENSATION OF LAND OFFICERS.

Compensation to a register or receiver of a land office for clerk hire is not legal, unless there shall have been an actual expenditure for clerk hire by them.... Where the register or receiver performs the whole duty himself, his compensation is the fees given by the act of 1821, and the half per cent. given by the act of 22d May, 1826...

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The compensation of the receivers of public moneys for lands, including the provision for clerk-hire in their offices, is limited by the act of 20th April, 1818, to five hundred dollars, and a commission of one per cent. on the moneys received by them, provided that the whole amount shall not exceed three thousand dollars.. 1779 'The clerk-hire is a charge upon the commissions, and cannot be allowed as an extra charge by the Department...

The register of the land office at Kalamazoo is not entitled to an extra allowance, as compensation, or reimbursement for money paid for clerk-hire in his office... The claim is not on any better footing than that of the receiver at the same office, whose application was considered in the preceding opinion..... COMPENSATION OF DISTRICT ATTORNEYS, MARSHALS, AND OTHER JUDICIAL OFFICERS. A marshal is not entitled to the commission of one and a quarter per cent. provided by the act of 28th February, 1799, upon specie captured, as in cases where he sells vessels and other property..

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Witnesses imprisoned on account of their inability to give security for their appearance at court are not entitled to any compensation beyond the one dollar and twenty-five cents per day for attending court, and five cents per mile for travelling expenses; allowed in act of February 28, 1799....

The district attorney of New Jersey is entitled to special compensation for attending a State court in behalf of the United States, and for attending upon taking depositions, and for disbursements in the suit; but, if the cause be removed to the circuit court of the United States, and be there attended to by him, his compensation is that which district attorneys are entitled to under the act of 28th February, 1799

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COMPENSATION OF DISTRICT ATTORNEYS, AND OTHERS, (continued.)

being the highest fees which are allowed by the laws of the State of New Jersey for similar services in the supreme court of that State... Opinion of March 31, 1820, [ante, p. 222,] reconsidered, commented upon at length, and reaffirmed...

Witnesses imprisoned on account of their inability to give security for their appearance at court, are not entitled to any compensation beyond the one dollar and twenty-five cents per day for attending court, and five cents per mile for travelling expenses, as provided by act of 28th February, 1799....

The act provides only for witnesses "summoned in court, attending in court;" and unless it be in session, there is no court in which or upon which they can attend. Witnesses detained in order that they may be in attendance when the time for a session of court shall arrive, cannot be considered in attendance in or upon the court. They earn their compensation only by attending where they shall be in the power of the court whensoever it shall be necessary to call for their testimony....... In a public prosecution the law regards the time of a witness as not lost to himself, but bestowed upon the interests of the community of which he is a member, and therefore he may be considered as being, in some degree, employed for himself. If paid by the marshal all the compensation which Congress has seen fit to make, he cannot obtain anything more. Payment for detention for want of bail has not been provided; and until it shall be, no marshal can legally make any allowance therefor; nor can any allowance therefor be passed by the officer who shall settle his official accounts..

The "reasonable contingent expenses" that may accrue in holding courts, which marshals are allowed to pay, are only those that arise and accrue in the holding of court; not on account of the criminal jurisdiction of the court, or the necessity of the attendance thereon of particular witnesses, but of the "holding of court, cording to appointment, at the specified time and place....

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It is the duty of district attorneys to attend all the courts of their respective districts when thereunto required by the Government; but as their fees have not been prescribed for attending State courts, the Executive Department must graduate their compensation by a reasonable estimate of the value of the services rendered...... 680 The act providing for the making of the fifth census permits the marshals to assign to themselves parts of their respective districts, but does not make any provision under which they can lawfully receive any part of the compensation allowed to assistants...

Assistants of marshals have a perfect claim on the Government for the payment of the compensation to which they are entitled, as soon as they have complied with the requisitions of the law....

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There is no act of Congress which makes the United States liable for the marshal's fees in the case of the discharge of a debtor from imprisonment; and the Treasury Department, therefore, is not authorized to pay a claim made for them... Where Colonel Ashton was employed to assist the district attorney of the District of Columbia, by the Mayor of Washington, and the said attorney, in a prosecution then pending against William Berry, in the circuit court, for murder-DECIDED, that he has a just claim against the Government for compensation for his services.... 806 District attorneys are entitled only to the salary allowed by the act of 1799 and by subsequent laws, and the per diem, mileage, and taxable fees for prosecuting before the federal courts in their respective districts delinquents for crimes and civil actions, in which the United States are concerned, or have an interest, cognizable, therein, unless some further special provision shall have been made by Congress for individual officers....

Not being required by the laws defining their general duties to attend State courts, nor upon judges out of court, if their services are called for therein, or on other special occasions, and the fees taxed them in such State courts cannot be recovered, or are inadequate, they should be paid a fair compensation out of any moneys appropriated to the special objects in reference to which the services were rendered, or, in some cases, out of the judiciary fund usually provided in the general appropriation bill...

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Messrs. Baker and Devereux must, like other officers, find their compensation in the annual stipend and other perquisites annexed to their office.

The reference to the fees of the State courts, contained in the acts of 1789 and 1799, does not apply to the courts, nor to the district attorneys of States where there are no fees by law, but refers to those where the laws give taxable fees...... The United States should, in such cases, make a reasonable allowance to their attorneys in the States where the latter can look only to their employers for compensation.. 1133 The accounts of marshals certified by the court, or one of the judges thereof, as provided in the fourth section of the act of May 8, 1792, are conclusive upon the ac

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COMPENSATION OF DISTRICT ATTORNEYS, AND OTHERS, (continued.)

counting officers of the treasury, except in cases where charges shall be allowed by the court or judge for a service or purpose not mentioned in the acts of Congress, and where a greater sum shall be allowed than that fixed by law..... As to whether a charge of two dollars for serving a writ of subpoena is proper, it is not perceived that there is any legal warrant for excepting it from the enacting words of the statute giving that compensation for the service of any process, &c....... Where a marshal received, in due course of law, processes of summons and subpoena for the same witnesses, (it being the usual mode of procuring the attendance of witnesses in the court from which they issued,) and served the same as required, he is entitled to his fees for both services, on their being allowed and certified by the district judge.......

Marshals have no control over the practice of the courts, nor over the kind of process which they may issue; they are simply bound, as officers of the courts, to execute the process issued to them...

In a matter of general and established practice, the regular taxation of the costs, and their allowance in due form by district judges, are binding and conclusive upon the accounting officers......

District attorneys are not entitled to any compensation over and above their annual salary and stated fees for any services whatever rendered by them as such officers in the prosecution of offenders....

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But where, under special instructions, district attorneys render services of various
sorts, necessary to discover criminals and in procuring adequate evidence, for such
services they may be allowed an adequate compensation by the proper department. 1310
Where it is the settled practice of the court to procure the attendance of witnesses by
the service both of the process of summons and subpoena, and an order issues to the
marshal to summon witnesses, that officer is entitled to an allowance of fifty cents for
performing the order, and the stated compensation for serving the summons and sub-
poena. He cannot disregard the orders or process issued by the court, even though
they are superfluous; but must execute such as shall be issued to him in the ordi-
nary practice, and for which he is entitled to the prescribed fees at the hands of the
government.

The taxation of the court, and the allowance and certificate of the judge, are conclu-
sive upon the accounting officers when the service or purpose is enumerated in the
act of Congress, and the sum allowed therefor is not exceeded..
The marshal cannot be allowed more for the service of a summons, where a sub-
pœna and summons shall have been issued to him to obtain the attendance of a
single witness, than the sum prescribed for summoning a single witness.....
The provision for the regulation of the fees and compensation of certain clerks, attor-
neys, counsellors, and marshals, in the district courts of the United States, contained
in the act making appropriations for the civil and diplomatic expenses of the gov-
ernment for the year 1841, was designed to reduce the fees of the federal officers
whose compensation by existing laws exceeds $1,500 per year, to the scale of fees
allowed by law for similar services in the highest State courts..

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To give effect to this provision the several officers embraced within it should ascertain, as far as practicable, whether all the fees, emoluments, and receipts of their office, as allowed under anterior laws, will make their entire compensation exceed the sum of $1,500 per annum; and if it be reasonably certain that they will, the officer must be confined in his charges to the rates of fees prescribed by the proviso. If they will not, or if the question be fairly doubtful, the old rule may be adhered to. 1387 Clerks are not responsible to the treasury for fees which, after using due diligence, they have failed to collect......

A person filling the offices of clerk of a circuit court and clerk of a district court, is entitled to the salaries of both offices under the act of 1842...

The salaries attach to the offices for the services rendered in discharge of the duties
thereof, and there is no law prohibiting the discharge of the duties of both offices
by the same person...
Mileage fees to district marshals whilst in pursuit of a person for the purpose of ser-
vice of process upon him, have been passed at the department; and as it seems
equitable, although not within a rigid construction of the law,
may be well to
adhere to the practice...

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In the absence of any statute regulation concerning the compensation of commission-
ers of circuit courts, the courts themselves may fix the rate. Where rates have not
been fixed, the amount may be asccertained by a reference to the local law of the
State providing for similar services by local magistrates.
Proceedings under the several acts of Congress before these commissioners in behalf
of the United States are properly chargeable to the United States, and, being so,
ought to be allowed and paid.

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