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heirs, or other beneficiaries, have no legal title in, or to, such claim. The legal title therein, and the right to prosecute the claim, vest only in the legal representatives of the decedent. It can in strict law only be prosecuted in the name of such legal representatives. If it is prosecuted and allowed in the name of the decedent, the allowance thereof does not conclude the legal representatives, who may still prosecute it in their own names. If they accept, indorse, and collect, a Treasury draft issued in the name of a decedent, they are estopped from denying the validity of the allowance in his name. The widow, heirs, or other persons beneficially interested in the estate, other than the proper legal representatives, cannot give to an attorney any power over the assets thereof as against such legal representatives.

The Treasury Department, in paying claims in such cases, can only recognize the proper legal representatives, or an attorney by them duly appointed. These principles are so familiar that it is unnecessary to cite authorities in support of them. Usage has properly established the authority of beneficiaries of estates to receive payments of small claims in favor of said estates and against the United States, in certain cases (Deceased Claimant's case, 4 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 255). To this extent an exception has been made on general principles, but not beyond this.

The Treasury draft issued in this case will be delivered to the administrator of the decedent.

TREASURY DEPARTMENT,

First Comptroller's Office, March 14, 1885.

IN THE MATTER OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUNDRY SECTIONS OF THE REVISED STATUTES, AND OTHER ACTS OF CONGRESS RELATING TO THE ELECTIVE FRANCHISE AND THE QUALIFICATIONS, POWERS, AND COMPENSATION OF OFFICERS AND PERSONS EXERCISING RIGHTS AND PERFORMING DUTIES UNDER THEM.-ELECTIVE-FRANCHISE CASE.

1. Construction given to some provisions of the acts of May 31, 1870 (16 Stat., 140), February 28, 1871 (16 Stat., 433), June 10, 1872 (17 Stat., 347); and of Title XXVI (Sections 2002-2031) of the Revised Statutes.

2. The accounts for the compensation and expenditures of Chief Supervisors of Elections are presented by them directly to the Treasury Department for payment. 3. The Marshal of each district, as a disbursing officer subject to the proper supervision of the Attorney-General, generally pays Supervisors of Election, and Special Deputy Marshals for their services, on accounts submitted to, and approved by, the proper court. But when any sufficient reasons exist therefor, such accounts may be presented directly to the Treasury Department, and be there allowed and paid.

4. When a provision of the Revised Statutes is free from ambiguity, effect must be given to it according to its terms, although they have a meaning different from

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the original statutes, from which it was taken. But when such provision is ambiguous, resort may be had to the original statutes from which it was taken to ascertain its meaning.

Statutes designed to prevent fraudulent voting, to secure freedom of elections, and a full and fair declaration of the legal result, are to be liberally construed to accomplish these objects.

6. Under sections 2011 and 2012 of the Revised Statutes, two Supervisors of Election may be appointed by the proper court for each election district or voting precinct of any city or town having upward of twenty thousand inhabitants whenever two citizens of such city or town make proper application therefor, and when an election for Representative in Congress is to be held.

7. Each of the two Supervisors of Election appointed for any election district or voting precinct in such city or town must be a citizen-resident and qualified voter thereof, but not necessarily of the election district or voting precinct in which his duties are to be performed.

8. Supervisors of Election can only be appointed for such election districts and voting precincts in counties or parishes as may be specified in the application therefor.

9. A Special Deputy Marshal is not limited in the discharge of his general duties to any election district or voting precinct in a city or town, but may exercise his functions co-extensively with the city or town for which he is appointed. 10. Each Special Deputy Marshal is required by law to be a qualified voter of some election district or voting precinct in a city or town in which city or town "his duties are to be performed."

11. When a city is divided into two or more Congressional districts, a qualified voter in any election district or voting precinct of such city may be appointed a Special Deputy Marshal for the entire city.

12. The Marshal of a district, subject to authorized directions of the Attorney-General, is the sole judge of the necessity of appointing special deputy marshals, and of the number which he will appoint.

13. The Marshal, subject to like directions, is the exclusive judge of the period of time during which he will require the service of Special Deputy Marshals in the actual performance of official duties, not exceeding the maximum time fixed by statute.

14. A Special Deputy Marshal is not technically an officer.

15. Semble, That a de facto Special Deputy Marshal is not entitled to compensation from the United States for his services.

The acts of May 31, 1870 (16 Stat., 140), February 28, 1871 (16 Stat., 433), and June 10, 1872 (17 Stat., 347), as carried into Title XXVI, sections 2002-2031, of the Revised Statutes, contain provisions on the subject of the Elective Franchise. On the 2d of December, 1884, the House of Representatives adopted a resolution directing the Committee on Expenditures in the Department of Justice to investigate sundry matters connected with the election for Members of Congress in the voting precincts in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. See House Rep., No. 2681-2d session, 48 Cong., March 3, 1885. A volume of testimony was taken by a sub-committee of the Committee, which presents questions of law, some of which have never heretofore been brought to the attention of the present Comptroller, and which are now for the first time submitted for decision. The questions so made arise in settling the accounts of Lot Wright, Marshal of the Southern District of Ohio, for disbursements made by him to Special Deputy Marshals. Other questions arise in settling the accounts of other Marshals for disbursements made to Supervisors of Elections. Still other questions arise in settling the accounts of Chief Supervisors of Elections. It is deemed

proper, therefore, to consider several of these questions and present them in one connected view.

The accounts for the compensation and expenditures of Chief Supervisors of Elections are presented by them directly to the Treasury Department for payment-(Rev. Stat., 2020; Election Supervisor's case, 3 Lawrence, Compt. Dec. 153; Allen's Account case, 4 Id., 514; Conrad's case, ante,-). The Marshal of each district, as a disbursing officer, subject to the proper supervision of the Attorney General, pays Supervisors of Election and Special Deputy Marshals for their services, on accounts submitted to, and approved by, the proper court (Rev. Stat., 362, 368, 369, 830, 855, 1876, 1877; Act February 22, 1875 (18 Stat., 333); Rev. Stat., 846; Langford's case, 2 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 2d ed., 269; Subpœna case, Id., 295; 16 Op. Att.-Gen., 147; 1 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 2d ed., App., 624). Such accounts may also be presented for payment directly to the Treasury Department. (Otto's case, 3 Lawrence, Compt. Dec., 296.)

With this preliminary statement it is deemed proper to present in one view several sections of the Revised Statutes, relating more or less directly to the questions to be decided, said sections being as follow:

SEC. 2011. Whenever, in any city or town having upward of twenty thousand inhabitants, there are two citizens thereof, or whenever, in any county or parish, in any congressional district, there are ten citizens thereof, of good standing, who, prior to any registration of voters for an election for Representative or Delegate in the Congress of the United States, or prior to any election at which a Representative or Delegate in Congress is to be voted for, may make known, in writing, to the judge of the circuit court of the United States for the circuit wherein such city or town, county or parish, is situated, their desire to have such registration, or such election, or both, guarded and scrutinized, the judge, within not less than ten days prior to the registration, if one there be, or, if no registration be required, within not less than ten days prior to the election, shall open the circuit court at the most convenient point in the circuit.

SEC. 2012. The court, when so opened by the judge, shall proceed to appoint and commission, from day to day and from time to time, and under the hand of the judge, and under the seal of the court, for each election district or voting precinct in such city or town, or for such election district or voting precinct in the congressional district, as may have applied in the manner herein before prescribed, and to revoke, change, or renew such appointment from time to time, two citizens, residents of the city or town, or of the election district or voting precinct in the county or parish, who shall be of different political parties, and able to read and write the English language, and who shall be known and designated as supervisors of election.

SEC. 2016. The supervisors of election, so appointed, are authorized and required to attend at all times and places fixed for the registration of voters, who, being registered, would be entitled to vote for a Representative or Delegate in Congress, and to challenge any person offering to register; to attend at all times and places when the names of regis tered voters may be marked for challenge, and to cause such names registered as they may deem proper to be so marked; to make, when

required, the lists, or either of them, provided for in section two thousand and twenty-six, and verify the same, and upon any occasion, and at any time when in attendance upon the duly herein prescribed to personally inspect and scrutinize such registry, and for purposes of identification to affix their signature to each page of the original list, and of each copy of any such list of registered voters, at such times, upon each day when any name may be received, entered, or registered, and in such manner as will, in their judgment, detect and expose the improper or wrongful removal therefrom, or addition thereto, of any

name.

SEC. 2017. The supervisors of election are authorized and required to attend at all times and places for holding elections of Representatives or Delegates in Congress, and for counting the votes cast at such elections; to challenge any vote offered by any person whose legal qualifications the supervisors, or either of them, may doubt; to be and remain where the ballot boxes are kept at all times after the polls are open until every vote cast at such time and place has been counted, the canvass of all votes polled wholly completed, and the proper and requisite certificates or returns made, whether the certificates or returns be required under any law of the United States, or any State, territorial, or municipal law, and to personally inspect and scrutinize, from time to time, and at all times, on the day of election, the manner in which the voting is done, and the way and method in which the poll-books, registry-lists, and tallies or check-books, whether the same are required by any law of the United States, or any State, territorial, or municipal law, are kept.

SEC. 2018. To the end that each candidate for the office of Representative or Delegate in Congress may obtain the benefit of every vote for him cast, the supervisors of election are, and each of them is, required to personally scrutinize, count, and canvass each ballot in their election district or voting precinct cast, whatever may be the indorsement on the ballot, or in whatever box it may have been placed or be found; to make and forward to the officer who, in accordance with the provisions of section two thousand and twenty five, has been designated as the chief supervisor of the judicial district in which the city or town wherein they may serve, acts, such certificates and returns of all such ballots as such officer may direct and require, and to attach to the registry-list, and any and all copies thereof and to any certificate, statement, or return, whether the same, or any part or portion thereof, be required by any law of the United States, or of any State, territorial, or municipal law, any statement touching the truth or accuracy of the registry, or the truth or fairness of the election and canvass, which the supervisors of the election, or either of them, may desire to make or attach, or which should properly and honestly be made or attached, in order that the facts may become known.

SEC. 2019. The better to enable the supervisors of election to discharge their duties, they are authorized and directed, in their respective election districts or voting precincts, on the day of registration, on the day when registered voters may be marked to be challenged, and on the day of election, to take, occupy, and remain in such position, from time to time, whether before or behind the ballot boxes, as will, in their judg ment, best enable them to see each person offering himself for registration or offering to vote, and as will best conduce to their scrutinizing the manner in which the registration or voting is being conducted; and at the closing of the polls for the reception of votes, they are required to place themselves in such position, in relation to the ballot-boxes, for the purpose of engaging in the work of canvassing the ballots, as will enable

them to fully perform the duties in respect to such canvass provided herein, and shall there remain until every duty in respect to such canvass, certificates, returns, and statements has been wholly completed. [See § 5521.]

SEC. 2021. Whenever an election at which Representatives or Delegates in Congress are to be chosen is held in any city or town of twenty thousand inhabitants or upward, the marshal for the district in which the city or town is situated shall, on the application, in writing, of at least two citizens residing in such city or town, appoint special deputy marshals, whose duty it shall be, when required thereto, to aid and assist the supervisors of election in the verification of any list of persons who may have registered or voted; to attend in each election district or voting precinct at the times and places fixed for the registration of voters, and at all times or places when and where the registration may by law be scrutinized, and the names of registered voters be marked for challenge; and also to attend, at all times for holding elections, the polls in such district or precinct.

SEC. 2022. The marshal and his general deputies, and such special deputies, shall keep the peace, and support and protect the supervisors of election in the discharge of their duties, preserve order at such places of registration and at such polls, prevent fraudulent registration and fraudulent voting thereat, or fraudulent conduct on the part of any officer of election, and immediately, either at the place of registration or polling place, or elsewhere, and either before or after registering or voting, to arrest and take into custody, with or without process, any person who commits, or attempts or offers to commit, any of the acts or offenses prohibited herein, or who commits any offense against the laws of the United States; but no person shall be arrested without process for any offense not committed in the presence of the marshal or his general or special deputies, or either of them, or of the supervisors of election, or either of them, and, for the purposes of arrest or the preservation of the peace, the supervisors of election shall, in the absence of the marshal's deputies, or if required to assist such deputies, have the same duties and powers as deputy marshals; nor shall any person, ou the day of such election, be arrested without process for any offense committed on the day of registration.

Sec. 2026. The chief supervisor shall prepare and furnish all necessary books, forms, blanks, and instructions for the use and direction of the supervisors of election in the several cities and towns in their respective districts; he shall receive the applications of all parties for appointment to such positions; upon the opening, as contemplated in section two thousand and twelve, of the circuit court for the judicial circuit in which the commissioner so designated acts, he shall present such applications to the judge thereof, and furnish information to him in respect to the appointment by the court of such supervisors of election; he shall require of the supervisors of election, when necessary, lists of the persons who may register and vote, or either, in their respective election districts or voting precincts, and cause the names of those upon any such list whose right to register or vote is honestly doubted to be verified by proper inquiry and examination at the respective places by them assigned as their residences; and he shall receive, preserve, and file all oaths of office of supervisors of election, and of all special deputy marshals appointed under the provisions of this Title, and all certificates, returns, reports, and records of every kind and nature contemplated or made requisite by the provisions hereof, save where otherwise herein specially directed.

SEC. 2028. No person shall be appointed a supervisor of election or a

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