AGENCY, I-Continued.

12. Under the Act 2d March, 1867, (14 Stat. L., § 15, p. 481,) and the Treasury regulations made in pursuance thereof, a collector of internal revenue is the agent of the Government for receiving deposits made to procure prescribed distillery-meters, and is not the agent of a distiller who makes a deposit. Therefore, if the collector embezzles the money deposited, the loss falls on the Government, whose agent he is.

Sausser's Case, vol. ix, p. 333.

SUPREME COURT DECISIONS.

The protection which commercial usage throws around negotiable paper cannot be used to establish the authority of an agent who issued it. Hence, whenever negotiable paper is found in the market upon which the Government apparently is a party, the purchaser must, at his peril, see that the officer who indorsed or accepted it had authority to bind the Government.

The Floyd Acceptance Cases, 7 Wallace R., p. 666; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 65.

II.-PUBLIC AGENTS.

DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS,

1. The duty of inquiry as to the power of a public officer is much more strict than if the transaction were between private parties.

Floyd Acceptance Cases, vol. 1, p. 270.

2. The authority of a general commanding a military department to bind the Government by express contract in time of actual hostilities and of great public danger, must be derived from the Constitution and laws of the United States. Fremont Contract Cases, vol. ii, p. 1.

3. commanding general cannot appoint a civilian purchasing-agent of the Government, nor invest him with discretion to make express contracts, nor transfer to him the responsibility which the law imposes on quartermasters. Neither has such an agent power to bind the Government by express contract. [Per NOTT, J.; LORING and PECK, JJ., concurring; CASEY, Ch. J., dissenting. Both parties appealed. The judgment was affirmed by the equal division of the Supreme Court, 7 C. Cls. R., p. 82.]

Id.

4. The law of general and special agents is applicable to general and subaltern officers in their relations with the Government and its contractors. Subaltern officers are authorized to perform specific duties only; a general in command is a general agent with larger powers, authorized to use discretion in their application, and to perform all the duties of the special agents. Stevens Case, vol. ii, p. 95.

5. A report by the Postmaster-General falsely representing that contractors are not prepared to perform their contract, and the consequent refusal of Congress to sanction the contract, do not constitute a breach, nor entitle the claimant to damages against the Government.

AGENCY, II-Continued.

6. In actions on contract, express or implied, the Government is to be regarded as the principal, and its officers as its agents; and no acts of theirs can bind the Government for a greater amount than that to which it has limited its liability by statute. Curtis's Case, vol. ii, p. 144.

7. A statute limiting the amount of an expenditure is notice in law and in fact to the contractor that the officers of the Government cannot exceed the prescribed bounds. If they are exceeded, the claimant must be deemed to have gone beyond the fixed limit at his own risk. Id. . A charter-party not executed by a public agent till after his agency has expired is void. Richardson Case, vol. ii, p. 483.

9. A quartermaster cannot bind the defendants upon a lease of realty when the title to the property leased has been unlawfully acquired, against the public policy of the United States, and in violation of the law of nations, and the circumstances are known to the quartermaster at the time of executing the lease. [The judgment affirmed, but this point not determined; 7 C. Cls. R., p. 119; 9 Wallace R., 45.]

Filor's Case, vol. iii, p. 25.

10. Where the expenditure of an appropriation is specially confided to the discretion of the Secretary of the Interior Department, he has discretionary power to award contracts therefor without advertising under the Act 2d March, 1861. (12 Stat. L., p. 220.)

Fower's Case, vol. iii, p. 43.

11. A person engaging in the traffic of bringing out products of the insurrectionary States under the Act 2d July, 1864, (13 Stat. L., p. 377,) assumes such risks as may arise from the ignorance, perverseness, or cupidity of the agents or officers of the Government. It is only for the distinctly authorized or adopted acts of its agents that the Government can be held liable. Burnside's Case, vol. iii, p. 367.

12. A purchasing-agent of the Navy Department cannot be treated as a consignor who ships goods at the risk, and delivers them to the carrier of the consignee. His responsibility does not end with his delivering the goods to a carrier of his own choosing, but continues until they come to the official custody of some other agent of the Government.

Tyson's Case, vol. iv, p. 384.

13. The special agent cannot exceed the instructions of his principal, nor the subaltern officer the regulations of his superior. Hence where the Quartermaster-General prescribes the rates at which vessels may be chartered, and a quartermaster exceeds those rates, the vessel voluntarily remaining in the service after her charter-party is disapproved by the Quartermaster-General, the charter-party is void for the excess of compensation. [The principle laid down by PECK, J., in Stevens's Case, (ante,) cited and approved.] Emery's Case, vol. iv, p. 401.

AGENCY, II-Continued.

14. After cotton is shown to have been captured by the United States military forces, and once fairly in their possession, it is presumed that the agents of the Government, charged by law with any duty in respect to it, faithfully performed that duty. [The principle affirmed by the Supreme Court in Crussell's Case; this case affirmed by the equal division of the Supreme Court. See 7 C. Cls. R., pp. 276, 278.]

Silvey's Case, vol. iv, p. 490.

15. A quartermaster cannot confer on another the power of appointment, though he may appoint horse-inspectors himself.

Burroughs's Case, vol. iv, p. 555.

16. When a contractor, in the erection of a building for the Government, obeys a subordinate acting without authority, and is thus delayed in the completion of his contract, he does it in his own wrong.

Grant & Co.'s Case, vol. v, p. 71.

17. The Treasury agents appointed under the Abandoned or captured property Act (12 Stat. L., p. 820) are special agents, clothed with no general powNeither a Treasury agent, nor an auctioneer employed by him, has authority to bind the Government by a warranty, express or implied. Bennett's Case, vol. vi, p. 103.

ers.

18. Where the officers of the Quartermaster Department, charged with the supervision of work, saw and knew of extra work in time to object and stop it, but instead of doing so received and accepted the benefit of it for the Government, and where changes ordered by them necessarily imply an increased price, the contractor may recover therefor.

Cooper's Case, vol. viii, p. 199.

19. In May, 1869, a commissary of subsistence had no authority to contract for the subsistence of Indians under the Appropriation Act, April 10, 1869, (16 Stat. L., 40, § 4,) until the determination of the Government to place the Indians within the care of the Commissary Department and instructions issued in pursuance thereof. Ryan's Case, vol. viii, p. 265.

20. The rule which exempts the Government from liability for the illegal acts of its agents and officers extends to the case of a Treasury agent who received the proceeds of captured property, and instead of paying them into the Treasury, as required by law, illegally paid them away to persons claiming to be the owners of the property.

Spencer's Case, vol. viii, p. 238. 21. The "1 per cent. to cover incidental expenses" charged by the Treasury against captured and abandoned property was in fact paid to or reserved by the Treasury agents under the authority of the Secretary; therefore the charge must be sustained under the general principle laid down in Bynum's Case, (8 C. Cls. R., p. 440.) Houston's Case, vol. viii, p. 446. 22. The fact that the agents of the Treasury, authorized to receive subscriptions for a loan, advertised that payment would be made in gold, being without authority of law, does not control the case.

Savage's Case, vol. viii, p. 545.

AGENCY, II-Continued.

23. A contractor, dealing with the Government, is chargeable with notice of all statutory limitations placed upon the powers of public officers; but there is a difference between those powers which are expressly defined by statute and those which rest upon the discretion confided by law to an officer. Where a statute expressly defines the power, it is notice to all the world; but where it confides a discretion to an officer, the party dealing with him in good faith may assume that the discretion is properly exercised. If the discretion be vested in a superior, while the transaction is with his subordinate, the contractor may assume that the discretion has been properly exercised, and that the subordinate is acting in accordance with his superior's orders. [This decision chronologically follows those of the Supreme Court in the Floyd Acceptance Cases, and Speed's Case, 7 C. Cls. R., pp. 65, 93; 7 Wallace R., p. 666; 8 Id., p. 77.] Thompson's Case, vol. ix, p. 187.

24. Where a quartermaster enters into a written contract, made in due form of law, the contractor is not responsible for his error in contracting for a greater amount of service than the Government will require.

Hardy's Case, vol. ix, p. 244.

25. Where, during the rebellion, a commanding officer exercised his discretion for the immediate procurement of supplies to meet an emergency, his order had the force of law; and discretion to purchase without advertisement was thereby conferred upon his subordinates charged with the duty of procuring the supplies; and a contract entered into by them for 500,000 bushels of corn, deliverable at the rate of 150,000 bushels per month, was within their discretion and valid. Cobb's Case, vol. ix, p. 291. 26. Where the chief quartermaster of a military department orders an assistant quartermaster to accept a bid and award a contract, it is a ratification of the previous acts of the assistant, and renders them as valid as though expressly authorized. Tenney's Case, vol. x, p. 269.

27. Though an action will not lie against the Government for the wrongful acts of its officers, nevertheless an action founded entirely upon their lawful acts will not be defeated by reason of their subsequent wrongful acts to which the other party is a stranger, and from which the Government would reap an advantage; that is, while the party cannot set up the wrongful acts of its officers against the Government, neither can the Government set up the wrongful acts of its officers to relieve itself from its lawful liabilities. Boston Bank Cases, vol. x, p. 519.

SUPREME COURT DECISIONS.

1. The Secretary of War has no legal authority to lend the name and credit of the Government to Army contractors by accepting their drafts, even though the purpose be to furnish necessary subsistence, clothing, and shelter for the Army in the field.

Floyd Acceptance Cases, 7 Wallace R., p. 666; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 65.

AGENCY, III—Continued.

2. An order of the War Department authorizing a general of volunteers to raise and equip troops, with a proviso that the cost "does not exceed in the aggregate that of like troops now or hereafter raised for the service," is merely directory, and leaves to the discretion of the general the price to be paid for each article needed.

Garrison's Cuse, 7 Wallace R., p. 688; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 78.

3. A quartermaster has not power to bind the Government by renting real property for its use. The lease must be approved by the Quartermaster

General.

Filor's Case, 9 Wallace R., p. 45; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 119.

4. When a vessel employed by a quartermaster to carry military supplies is in danger of being lost, after having discharged her cargo, and the quartermaster requests the owners to send assistance for the purpose of protecting the interests of the Government as well as of the owners, no liability on the part of the Government arises for money so expended; for the Government has no interest in the steamer, and the quartermaster no authority to bind the Government. [Overruling the decision of the Court of Claims, where it was held that the Government had an insurer's interest under the Act 3d March, 1849. 4 C. Cls. R., p. 132.]

Reed's Case, 11 Wallace R., p. 591; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 195.

5. The presumption is that officers of the Government perform their duty, and the presumption is strengthened in a certain case by the fact that heavy statutory penalties will be incurred by neglect.

Crussell's Case, 12 Wallace R., p. 175; C. Cls. R., vol. vii, p. 276.

6. The declarations of the Chief of the Cavalry Bureau, (a bureau established. by the War Departmeut, having charge of the purchase of horses,) that he will not suspend certain new rules for inspection, but will require his assistant quartermasters to apply them to a party seeking to deliver under an antecedent contract, bind nobody. [Overruling the decision of the Court of Claims, where it was held that the orders of the chief bound his subordinates, and precluded the contractors from proceeding to perform under the antecedent contracts. 5 C. Cls. R., p. 490.]

Smoot's Case, 15 Wallace R., p. 36; C. Cls. R., vol. viii, p. 96.

III.-PRIVATE AGENTS.

DECISIONS OF THE COURT OF CLAIMS.

1. A general power of attorney to an agent to close up a business, to sell real and personal estate, to collect debts, and to do whatever is necessary to effect these objects, does not authorize the agent to re-invest the funds of his principal; and such power of attorney, executed before the breaking out of the rebellion, after the contending parties have become, as against each other, belligerent powers, ceases to have any vitality. Stoddart's Case, vol. iv, p. 511.