31. Under the resolution of Congress of February 2, 1859 (11 Stat. 571), directing the Secretary of the Treasury to readjust certain accounts, his authority and duty are confined to the accounts specified. Opinion of March 1, 1859, 9 Op. 270.

32. An account is adjusted when the proper Auditor and Comptroller have stated and certified the amount due on it, and the head of the Department, at the request of the proper officer, has drawn a requisition for that amount, and it has been paid out of the Treasury to the claimant. Opinion of April 25, 1862, 10 Op. 231.

33. In stating an account between the United States and the State of Illinois, under the second section of the act of March 3, 1857, chap. 104, the Commissioner of the General Land Office should debit the United States with 5 per cent. of the sales of the public lands in Illinois, including in the computation all the Indian reservations within the State at the rate of one dollar and a quarter per acre, and then credit the United States with the amount of the 3 per cent. on such sales already paid the State, together with the whole amount of the 2 per cent. fund reserved up to the passage of that act. Opinion of July 6, 1870, 13 Op. 268.

34. The act of March 30, 1868, chap. 36, authorizes the head of a Department, before signing a warrant for any balance certified by a Comptroller, to submit to the latter any facts which in his judgment affect the correctness of such balance; but it makes the decision of the Comptroller thereon final and conclusive upon the executive branch of the Government, and subject to revision by Congress or the proper courts only. Opinion of July 22, 1872, 14 Op. 65.

35. Under the provision in the act of March 3, 1875, chap. 131, which reads: "To enable the Secretary of the Treasury to pay Robert B. Lacey, late captain and quartermaster," a certain sum, "as the amount due him as arrearages of pay while on duty and prior to his final discharge," the settlement should take the course appropriate to an account accruing in the Treasury Department, and payment be made by the Secretary of the Treasury without a requisition from the Secretary of War. Opinion of Sept. 16, 1875, 15 Op. 46.

36. Sections 273 and 277 Rev. Stat. considered with reference to the relative duties of the Second Comptroller and the Auditor in the set

tlement of accounts; and held that every account falling within the scope of the latter section must undergo, successively, an examination by the Auditor and an examination by the Comptroller; that the action of the Auditor is primary altogether, and not definitive, while the action of the Comptroller is wholly revisory, and final. Opinion of Aug. 2, 1876, 15 Op.

140.

37. The word "settled," as used in section 273, is equivalent in meaning to "finally acted upon." Ibid.

38. Where the Comptroller, on revision, does not concur in the action of the Auditor disallowing an account, but finds and admits a balance arising thereon; or where he disagrees with the Auditor in allowing an account, and rejects it, or increases or diminishes the balance reported by the Auditor in such account-in any of these cases the account is by the action of the Comptroller finally adjusted, and further action by the Auditor is not required. Ibid.

39. The purpose of section 191 Rev. Stat. is to declare the effect of the settlement of an account by the accounting officers of the Treasury as regards the executive branch of the Government, not to define or explain the duties of those officers relative to the settlement itself; and the provisions thereof comprehend all balances arising upon settlement of accounts which it becomes the duty of the Comptroller to certify to the heads of Departments. Ibid.

40. Accordingly, where an account against the Government is disallowed by the Auditor, who in consequence reports no balance due thereon, but transmits the account with his action to the Comptroller for revision, and the latter officer, upon examination, finds and admits a balance due the claimant: Held (assuming the action of the Auditor and of the Comptroller to appear in due form) that nothing more remains to be done by either officer to complete the settlement of the account, but that the Comptroller should certify the balance which he finds and admits, accompanying his certificate with evidence of the action of the Auditor in the same matter. Ibid.

IV. Reopening.

41. Items of account had once been presented to the accounting officers and rejected, and afterwards to Congress and rejected by that

bouy in part, and the rejected items were again presented to the accounting officers on new proof. Held that they cannot reopen the account nor take any new testimony in respect to those items.

Opinion of May 23, 1832, 2 Op. 515.

42. Where Congress directs an account to be opened for a specific purpose, that purpose only can be subserved by so doing. Ibid.

43. Accounts once closed and settled (under the circumstances communicated to the Attorney-General) cannot be opened, except on the principles governing courts of equity in opening decrees. Opinion of Aug. 8, 1836, 3 Op. 148. 44. Although it is doubted whether an account which has been finally adjusted, settled, and closed ought to be reopened, the claim in behalf of William Otis, late collector of customs at Barnstable, not having been fully settled, may now be settled without violating such a rule. Opinion of April 20, 1840, 3 Op. 521.

45. The accounts of the Chickasaw fund are within the fourth section of the act of March 3, 1845, chap. 71, making appropriations for civil and diplomatic expenses of Government, and, having been once passed upon, cannot be reconsidered without the authority of law. Opinion of April 26, 1845, 4 Op. 369.

46. By the fourth section of the act of 3d March, 1845, chap. 71, no accounts adjusted by the accounting officers of the Treasury can be reopened without authority of law, except in cases where special acts have been passed for the relief of individuals. Opinion of May 14, 1845, 4 Op. 378.

47. Where A, who was the partner of B in one contract for carrying the mail, contracted individually with the Department to carry another mail on another route, and gave B and C as sureties for the performance of the same, and a portion of the contract price had been along, from time to time during the existence of the contract, paid to B without objection on the part of A, whose accounts were finally adjusted before the passage of the act of March 3, 1845, chap. 71, by charging to him the money paid to B, but who, being dissatisfied with such adjustment, on the 5th of September, 1840, applied to the Sixth Auditor of the Treasury for payment to him of so much of his contract price as had been paid to B, and, on being refused, applied to a subsequent Postmaster-General and then to Congress without

success, and again to the Postmaster-General for allowance of his claim: Held that the account having been once settled cannot be reopened without authority of law. Opinion of Aug. 22, 1845, 4 Op. 429.

48. And it is further decided that a claimant who appeals to Congress after an unsuccessful application at the Department must abide by his election, whether the result shall be favorable or otherwise. Ibid.

49. When accounts settled at the Treasury are for any lawful cause reopened at the request of a claimant, and to correct errors in his behalf, they are to be considered open for errors in behalf of the Government. Opinion of June 23, 1854, 6 Op. 576.

50. Where, by a private act, the PostmasterGeneral is required to cause to be re-examined the transportation account of a mail contractor, it is to be intended that the same shall be done in the statute routine of the accounting of the Department. Opinion of Aug. 25, 1855, 7 Op. 439.

51. The accounting officers had no authority in 1850 to reopen the accounts of Captain Heintzelman without his consent, after they had been finally and conclusively settled by the proper Department in 1847, and charge him with a sum of money behind his back and without notice to him. Opinion of Nov. 24, 1860, 9 Op. 505.

52. Where an account has been finally settled and adjusted, the accounting officers are not authorized by law to reopen and re-examine it; and the rule applies equally to the adjustment of an account under a special act of Congress, which, when it purports to be final, cannot be reopened without further special legislation. Opinion of April 25, 1862, 10 Op. 231.

53. Where the account of a Superintendent of Indian Affairs was finally adjusted, under a special act of Congress, and the amount allowed duly paid, and the accounting officers afterwards made an additional statement and allowance to the claimant: Held that the Secretary of the Interior might lawfully refuse to sign a requisition upon the Treasury for such additional allowance. Ibid.

54. The fourth section of the act of March 3, 1845, chap. 71, is repealed by the fifth section of the act of August 10, 1846, chap. 175. Opinion of May 19, 1862, 10 Op. 255.

55. Irrespective of the fourth section of the

act of March 3, 1845, chap. 71, the doctrine has been repeatedly and distinctly asserted by the Attorney-General, and has received judicial sanction, that a settlement of an account by the accounting officers, in pursuance of special statutory authority, which purports to be final, and which, having passed from their hands, has been consummated by payment, cannot afterwards be opened and readjusted by them. The previous opinion in case of Anson Dart (10 Op. 231) reaffirmed. Ibid.

56. Where an account has been duly adjusted, settled, and closed by the proper officers, upon a full knowledge of all the facts, and no errors in calculation have been made, it cannot be reopened without express authority of law. Opinion of April 20, 1868, 12 Op. 386.

V. Property Accounts (Army).

57. The laws, regulations, and departmental practice concerning the settlement of war accounts generally, but more especially of property accounts relating to the Army, from the commencement of the Government down to the present time, reviewed. Opinion of Aug. 4, 1871, 13 Op. 483.

58. Under the law as it stood before the passage of the act of March 3, 1817, chap. 45, the settlement of property accounts arising in the military service belonged to an officer in the War Department, called the superintendent-general of military supplies, who discharged this duty under the direction of the Secretary of War. Ibid.

59. The office of superintendent-general of military supplies was abolished by that act, and, as it seems from the last clause of the sixteenth section thereof, the legislature contemplated that the duties of that officer touching the settlement of property accounts should thereafter be performed by such of the accounting officers of the Treasury, then created, upon whom was devolved the adjustment of accounts pertaining to the military service. Ibid.

60. The subsequent course of departmental regulations and practice has in general coincided with that understanding of the statute, and, moreover, the duty and authority of the accounting officers of the Treasury to settle property accounts relating to the Army have been presupposed and distinctly recognized by subsequent legislation. Ibid.

61. Thus the practice of referring such accounts to those officers for settlement is not founded merely upon departmental usage or departmental regulation, but rests upon direct legislative enactment; and they are to be regarded as authorized by law to settle such accounts until Congress shall otherwise provide. | Ibid.

62. But the act of 1817 left this duty to be discharged by those officers as it was previously discharged by the superintendent-general of military supplies, that is to say, under the direction of the Secretary of War; and no alteration of the law in that respect has been made by any subsequent statute. Ibid.

63. It follows that the property accounts of quartermasters in the Army should be transmitted from the War Department to the proper accounting officers of the Treasury for settlement-such settlement to be made by them, however, under the direction of the Secretary of War. Ibid.

ACCOUNTING OFFICERS.

I. Generally.

II. Powers and Duties. III. Effect of Settlement by. IV. Appeal from.

I. Generally.

1. A public debtor proposes to discharge himself of an aggregate sum of upwards of $7,000 by his own oath alone, without any detail of particulars: Held that no principle of common law or equity would justify the accounting officers in allowing charges on such evidence. Opinion of March 20, 1823, 1 Op. 601, 602.

2. It is inexpedient for accounting officers in any case, unless thereunto specially directed by act of Congress, to readjudicate upon the items of an account once considered and settled in their offices. If the practice be allowed, the experiment will be made upon every change of accounting officers, by persevering claimants who may imagine themselves entitled to more than they have been allowed, to procure a reconsideration and revision of former decisions; and the same would be likely to result disadvantageously to the Government. Opinion of April 21, 1839, 3 Op. 461.

3. The Comptroller and Auditors of the Treasury, whose appointments were authorized by the third section of the act of 3d March, 1817, chap. 45, are officers in the Treasury Department previously established by law, and are embraced in the restrictions imposed upon certain public officers by the eighth section of the act of September 2, 1789, chap. 12. The object of the law was to withdraw from the accounting officers every motive of private interest in the performance of their public duties. Opinion of March 15, 1847, 4 Op. 555.

4. Acts of Congress granting relief in special cases, and referring claims to the Second Auditor, confer upon him a jurisdiction exclusive of any other Department; and where one Auditor settles such accounts, his successors are bound by his decisions. Opinion of May 8, 1849, 5 Op. 97.

9. If an accounting officer refuse to comply with the lawful instructions of the head of the proper Department in respect to the settlement of an account, the appropriate ultimate remedy is his removal. Opinion of Oct. 8, 1864, 11 Op. 109.

10. The regulations of the Navy concerning payments to administrators of balances due deceased seamen and marines, payments of arrearages claimed under wills, &c., are not applicable to or binding upon the accounting officers of the Treasury Department in the settlement of naval acounts. They extend to and govern only those persons who are in the naval service. Opinion of May 21, 1880, 16 Op. 494.

II. Powers and Duties.

11. The accounting officers may adopt the

a given law was reported and passed for the principles which are to govern in the settlement of accounts under the law. The passage of a bill accompanying a written report may be considered the adoption of that report. Opinion of March 7, 1823, 1 Op. 597.

of Nov. 13, 1852, 5 Op. 630, 656.

6. The Secretary of the Treasury is not bound to grant warrants for issuing money from the Treasury for whatever balances the Auditors and Comptrollers and Commissioner of Customs may state and certify; but, as the head of the accounting officers of the Treasury Department, as the Secretary of the Treasury and the head of the Department, he has the rightful authority to cause accounts to be reformed, readjusted, and settled according to his judgment of the right and justice of the case. Ibid.

7. The duty to countersign warrants does not include the power to supervise, reverse, or frustrate the decision of the Secretary, nor authorize a refusal to countersign because the Comptroller or the Commissioner of Customs differs in opinion from the Secretary as to the sum proper to be allowed, or is of opinion that the warrant ought not to issue for any sum. Ibid 657.

8. The Auditor of the Treasury for the PostOffice Department has direct official relation to both the Treasury and Post-Office Departments. Opinion of Aug. 25, 1855, 7 Op. 439.

12. The accounts and claims of Daniel D. Tompkins are, under the act of February 21, 1823, chap. 12, to be settled on principles of equity and good conscience, subject to the revision and final decision of the President. Ibid.

13. The accounting officers in adjusting such accounts may receive depositions, taken on notice, as proof of the items thereof. Ibid.

14. Such officers must act upon the accounts in the first instance. They must pass upon them so that there shall be decisions to be approved or disapproved by the President, whose power is only appellate in its nature. Ibid.

15. Accounting officers may re-examine any case where judgment has been rendered by a court and jury before the passage of the act of 1st March, 1823, chap. 37, if the defendant against whom the judgment has been rendered has any solid ground on which to ask a court of law for a new trial. Opinion of March 20, 1823, 1 Op. 598.

16. Where it shall appear to an accounting officer that there is newly discovered legal evidence of which the defendant was wholly and innocently ignorant at the time of the trial, and which if he had had the benefit of it would