The Military Laws of the United States, 1915

United States to final judgment. And if such debt is not already in suit, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to cause legal proceedings to be immediately commenced to enforce the same, and to cause the same to be prosecuted to final judgment with all reasonable dispatch. And if in such action judgment shall be rendered against the United States, or the amount recovered for debt and costs shall be less than the amounts so withheld as before provided, the balance shall then be paid over to such plaintiff by such Secretary, with six per cent interest thereon for the time it has been withheld from the plaintiff.1 Act of Mar. 3, 1875 (18 Stat. 481).

240. Assignments of claims-Powers of attorneys.-All transfers and assignments made of any claim upon the United States, or of any part or share thereof, or interest therein, whether absolute or conditional, and whatever may be the consideration therefor, and all powers of attorney, orders, or other authorities for receiving payment of any such claim, or of any part or share thereof, shall be absolutely null and void, unless they are freely made and executed in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses, after the allowance of such a claim, the ascertainment of the amount due, and the issuing of a warrant for the payment thereof. Such transfers, assignments, and powers of attorney must recite the warrant for payment, and must be acknowledged by the person making them, before an officer having authority to take acknowledgments of deeds, and shall be certified by the officer; and it must appear by the certificate that the officer, at the time of the acknowledgment, read and fully explained the transfer, assignment, or warrant of attorney to the person acknowledging the same. Sec. 3477, R. S.

* * *

Set-off. When a person is both debtor and creditor of the United States, in any form, the officers of the Treasury Department in settling the accounts not only have the power, but are required, in the proper discharge of their duties, to set off the one indebtedness against the other, and to allow and certify for payment only the balance found due on one side or the other. The right of set-off in such cases exists independently of these enactments (sec. 1766, Rev. Stat., and the act of March 3, 1875; 1 Sup. to Rev. Stat. 185), and is founded upon what is now section 236 of the Revised Statutes. (Taggart v. U. S., 17 Ct. Cls., 322, 327; McKnight's Case, 13 id., 292; Bonnafon's Case, 14 id., 489; Howes v. U. S., 24 id., 170; Reeside v. Walker, 11 How., 272, 290.) The power in the matter of set-offs conferred upon the Secretary of the Treasury by the act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat. 481), is exclusive, and can not be exercised by the courts. (U. S. v. Griswold, 30 Fed. Rep., 604.)

The accounting officers of the Treasury will not approve powers of attorney to demand and receive moneys due upon claims against the United States when such powers are not executed in accordance with the provisions of section 3477 of the Revised Statutes. (1 Comp. Dec., 142.) Section 3477 of the Revised Statutes, making null and void all assignments and powers of attorney to collect any claim or demand against the Government (unless the power of attorney is given after the settlement of the claim and the issuance of the warrant in payment) applies to liquidated, certain, and undisputed demands as well as to those which are unliquidated, uncertain, or disputed. (Id.. 276.)

Transfers and assignments of claims.-The restrictions of the Comptroller of the Treasury in regard to the allowance of credits to disbursing officers for payments made by them on powers of attorney or other forms of tansfer or assignment being so great as to amount practically to a prohibition of such

All warrants, when authorized by law and signed by the Secretary of the Treasury, shall be countersigned by the Comptroller of the Treasury, and all warrants for the payment of money shall be accompanied either by the Auditor's certificate, mentioned in section seven of this act, or by the requisition for advance of money, which certificate or requisition shall specify the particular appropriation to which the same should be charged, instead of being specified on the warrant, as now provided by section thirty-six hundred and seventy-five of the Revised Statutes; and shall also go with the warrant to the Treasurer, who shall return the certificate or requisition to the proper Auditor, with the date and amount of the draft issued indorsed thereon. Requisitions for the payment of money on all audited accounts, or for covering money into the Treasury, shall not hereafter be required. And requisitions for advances of money shall not be countersigned by the Comptroller of the Treasury. Sec. 11, Act of July 31, 1894 (28 Stat. 209).

238. Compromise of claims.-Upon a report by a district attorney, or any special attorney or agent having charge of any claim in favor of the United States, showing in detail the condition of such claim, and the terms upon which the same may be compromised, and recommending that it be compromised upon the terms so offered, and upon the recommendation of the Solicitor of the Treasury, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to compromise such claim accordingly. But the provisions of this section shall not apply to any claim arising under the postal laws. Sec. 3469, R. S.

239. Set-off. When any final judgment recovered against the United States or other claim duly allowed by legal authority, shall be presented to the Secretary of the Treasury for payment, and the plaintiff or claimant therein shall be indebted to the United States in any manner, whether as principal or surety, it shall be the duty of the Secretary to withhold payment of an amount of such judgment or claim equal to the debt thus due to the United States; and if such plaintiff or claimant assents to such set-off, and discharges his judgment or an amount thereof equal to said debt or claim, the Secretary shall execute a discharge of the debt due from the plaintiff to the United States. But if such plaintiff, or claimant, denies his indebtedness to the United States, or refuses to consent to the set-off, then the Secretary shall withhold payment of such further amount of such judgment, or claim, as in his opinion will be sufficient to cover all legal charges and costs in prosecuting the debt of the

Compromise of claims.-Claims against the United States which are disputed by the officers authorized to adjust such accounts may be compromised, and if the claimant voluntarily enters into such a compromise and accepts a smaller sum than the claim and executes a discharge in full for the whole claim, he is bound by the adjustment and can not sue for what he has voluntarily relinquished. (Sweeny v. U. S., 17 Wall., 75, 77; Mason v. U. S., id., 67; U. S. v. George, 6 Blatch., 406.)

240. Assignments of claims-Powers of attorneys.-All transfers and assignments made of any claim upon the United States, or of any part or share thereof, or interest therein, whether absolute or conditotal, and whatever may be the consideration therefor, and all powers of attorney, orders, or other authorities for receiving payEent of any such claim, or of any part or share thereof, shall be a' intely null and void, unless they are freely made and executed in the presence of at least two attesting witnesses, after the allowance of such a claim, the ascertainment of the amount due, and the issung of a warrant for the payment thereof. Such transfers, assignLents, and powers of attorney must recite the warrant for payment, and must be acknowledged by the person making them, before an

er having authority to take acknowledgments of deeds, and shall be certified by the officer; and it must appear by the certificate that the officer, at the time of the acknowledgment, read and fully explained the transfer, assignment, or warrant of attorney to the person owledging the same. Sec. 3477, R. S.

ket off. -When a person is both debtor and creditor of the United States, in any form, the officers of the Treasury Department in settling the accounts not

have the power, but are required, in the proper discharge of their duties,

off the one indebtedness against the other, and to allow and certify for ent only the balance found due on one side or the other. The

of set off in such cases exists independently of these enactments (sec. Rev. Stat., and the act of March 3, 1875; 1 Sup. to Rev. Stat. 185), and ded upon what is now section 236 of the Revised Statutes. (Taggart v. * 17 Ct. Cls, 322, 327; McKnight's Case, 13 id., 292; Bonnafon's Case, 14 440: Howes r. U'. S., 24 id., 170; Reeside r. Walker, 11 How., 272, 290.) wer in the matter of set-offs conferred upon the Secretary of the Treas the act of March 3, 1875 (18 Stat. 481), is exclusive, and can not be wd by the courts. (U. S. v. Griswold, 30 Fed. Rep., 604.)

Acousting officers of the Treasury will not approve powers of attorney and and receive moneys due upon claims against the United States when towers are not executed in accordance with the provisions of section 3477 the Revised Statutes. (1 Comp. Dec.. 142.) Section 8477 of the Revised smoking null and vold all assignments and powers of attorney to col*m or demand against the Government (unless the power of attorney * after the settlement of the claim and the issuance of the warrant in 5 applies to liquidated, certain, and undisputed demands as well as se which are unliquidated, uncertain, or disputed. (Id.. 276.) rameters and assignments of claims.-The restrictions of the Comptroller of ry in regard to the allowance of credits to disbursing officers for pay de by them on powers of attorney or other forms of tansfer or it be ig so great as to amount practically to a prohibition of suel

241. Checks outstanding three years or more to be covered into the Treasury as "Outstanding liabilities."-At the termination of each fiscal year all amounts of moneys that are represented by certificates, drafts, or checks, issued by the Treasurer, or by any disbursing officer of any Department of the Government, upon the Treasurer or any assistant treasurer, or designated depositary of the United States, or upon any national bank designated as a depositary of the United States, and which shall be represented on the books of either of such offices as standing to the credit of any disbursing officer, and which were issued to facilitate the payment of warrants, or for any other purpose in liquidation of a debt due from the United States, and which have for three years or more remained outstanding, unsatisfied, and unpaid, shall be deposited by the Treasurer, to be covered into the Treasury by warrant, and to be carried to the credit of the parties in whose favor such certificates, drafts, or checks were respectively issued, or to the persons who are entitled to receive pay payments, disbursing officers will refuse to pay the assignee of any claim, except as to assignments authorized by paragraphs 1258 and 1383 of the Army Regulations of 1913.

When claims or vouchers which have been assigned are presented for payment, the holders will be informed that disbursing officers have no authority to make payments to them as assignees, and that payments can only be made to the original persons to whom the money is due. (Decision Asst. Sec. War, Nov. 7, 95-27033, A. G. O., 95. Circ. 13, A. G. O., 1895.)

Assignments of pay by officers and enlisted men.-The assignment of their pay accounts by any officers, after the same become due, is authorized by paragraph 1258, Army Regulations of 1913, and is legal. (3 Second Comp. Dec., 45; id., 47.) Such transfers are accomplished in accordance with paragraphs 1258 and 1383, Army Regulations of 1913.

Attachments.-An attachment can not be enforced against public money in the hands of a disbursing officer of the Government, and he is authorized to pay the Government's creditor without regard to such attempted levy. (1 Comp. Dec., 171; Buchanan v. Alexander, 4 How., 20.)

For later specific authority to make payments on assignments by Army officers see Act of March 2, 1913 (37 Stat. 710), par. 647 post.

The provision of the Revised Statutes (section 3477), making void transfers and assignments of claims against the United States, relates to voluntary assignments, and does not extend to transfers by operation of law, or interfere with the equitable doctrine of subrogation. (Amer. Tob. Co. v. U. S., 32 Ct. Cls., 207; 2 Comp. Dec., 49.) While section 3477 of the Revised Statutes declares null and void all powers of attorney given prior to the settlement of a claim and the issuing of a warrant in payment, yet when payments are made upon valid, unrevoked, and undisputed powers of attorney, credit must be given in settlements of the disbursing officer making them. (1 Comp. Dec., 431; id., 119; id., 453.) Under the decisions of the courts the accounting officers are required, notwithstanding the provisions of section 3477 of the Revised Statutes, to credit disbursing officers with payments actually made by them under powers of attorney, provided it is shown that, at the time of such payment, such powers are undisputed and have not been revoked, either by the voluntary action of the principal or by his death. (Id., 142.) Payments may be made to a corporation under a contract entered into by an attorney duly authorized to act for the corporation in the making of such contract. (2 Comp. Dec., 30; id., 295.) See also decision of Secretary of War of November 7, 1895, in Circular 13, A. G. O., 1895.

The assignment of a quartermaster's voucher, unless made "after the allowance of such a claim" and in conformity with all the other requirements of section 3477 of the Revised Statutes, is “absolutely null and void." The exigencies of the war and of the Government service immediately after the war,

therefor, and into an appropriation account to be denominated "outstanding liabilities." Sec. 306, R. S.

242. Outstanding liabilities.-The certificate of the Secretary of the Treasury, stating that the amount of any draft issued by the Treasurer, to facilitate the payment of a warrant directed to him. for payment, has remained outstanding and unpaid for three years or more, and has been deposited and covered into the Treasury in the manner prescribed by the preceding section, shall be, when attached to any such warrant, a sufficient voucher in satisfaction of any such warrant or part of any warrant, the same as if the drafts correctly indorsed and fully satisfied were attached to such warrant or part of warrant. And all such moneys mentioned in this and in the preceding section shall remain as a permanent appropriation for the redemption and payment of all such outstanding and unpaid certificates, drafts, and checks. Sec. 307, R. S.

which at one time were relied upon to support the practice of paying the assignees of such vouchers, can not be made available in deciding cases now arising. (3 Dig. 2d Comp. Dec., par. 156.)

The mischiefs which this statute was intended to prevent were mainly two: (1) The danger that the rights of the Government might be embarrassed by having to deal with several persons instead of one, and by the introduction of a party who was a stranger to the original transaction; (2) that, by a transfer of such claim against the Government to one or more persons not originally interested in it, the way might be conveniently opened to such improper influences in prosecuting the claim before the Departments, the courts, or the Congress as desperate cases, when the reward is contingent on success, so often suggest. In Spofford v. Kirk (97 U. S., 490) the Supreme Court had said that the greater of the two evils was the possible combination of interests and influences in the prosecution of claims which might have no real foundation. (Goodman v. Niblack, 102 U. S., 560; Bailey v. U. S., 109 U. S., 438; Milliken v. Barrow, 65 Fed. Rep., 888, 892.)

The provisions of section 3477 of the Revised Statutes, prohibiting and making void transfers of any claim against the United States before the allowance of such claim, apply only to claims existing at the time of the transfer, in the form of a right to demand money from the United States, and not to cases where at the very inception of the transaction out of which a claim against the United States may arise, one party assigns to another the contingent profits he hopes to make, but which do not then exist, and can only be secured by the loan of the assignee's money to the assignor. (Milliken v. Barrow, 65 Fed. Rep., 888.) The word "claim" as used in section 3477, Revised Statutes, which provides that "all transfers and assignments made of any claim upon the United States * shall be absolutely null and void" unless made as prescribed therein, comprehends all demands against the United States for the payment of money whether liquidated or unliquidated; and an assignment of a judgment against the United States, made before the issuing of a warrant for the payment thereof, is within the meaning of the statute and void. (4 Comp. Dec., 196; I id., 276.) The provisions of section 3477, Revised Statutes, touching transfers and assignments of claims against the United States, and powers of attorney, etc., for receiving payment thereof, do not apply to undisputed claims or any claim about which no question is made as to its validity or extent. (XVII Opin. Att. Gen., 545; XXI id., 75; XX id., 578.)

When a claim passes into the form of checks, its legal character changes from that of a demand for goods sold and delivered to a claim represented by the checks given in liquidation of the original demand. The fund established by section 306, Revised Statutes, bears upon it the impress of a trust and the statutes of limitation can not be set up against money credited to the claimant in the permanent appropriation for outstanding liabilities. Such money is held as a trust fund payable on demand without limit of time. (32 Ct. Cls., 30; U. S. v. Taylor, 104 U. S., 216.)

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