The

that number is necessary to a decision in any case. clerk and other subordinate officers are appointed by the court. The present chief justice of the court is: Stanton J. Peelle of Indiana, and the associate judges are Charles B. Howry of Mississippi; Fenton W. Booth of Illinois; George W. Atkinson of West Virginia; and Samuel S. Barney of Wisconsin.

A full report of the court's proceedings and decisions is made to Congress at the beginning of the December session. By means of this report and by the decisions handed down from time to time, the heads of the various departments of the Government are kept informed of the disposition of

cases.

Members of Congress cannot practice before the court, nor can any officer or employee of a department appear before the court in connection with the prosecution of a claim until two years have elapsed since his retirement.

The court has jurisdiction to hear and determine all claims founded on any act of Congress and also on any regulation of an executive department, on any contract express or implied, and may deal with all claims which may be referred by either House of Congress. The force of set-offs, counterclaims and claims for damages held by the Government against an individual making a claim in the court, may likewise be heard and determined. Claims of quartermasters and subsistence officers for relief from responsibility for the loss of funds, vouchers and papers, whether these may have been captured by the enemy or otherwise, are heard by the court, and the latter is given exclusive jurisdiction over recovery proceedings instituted by owners of abandoned property which may have been seized by the treasury officials in the Civil War.

A petition or bill asking for the adjustment of a private claim against the Government is referred by the House in which the matter is pending to the court for a hearing and decision on the facts and equities and a finding as to the amount due if any. The court reports back to the House from which the petition was sent. Such is the procedure

in both individual and classified cases. Cases may be referred to the court by the heads of the departments and the accounting officers of the Treasury Department for a finding, if the claims amount to more than $3,000. Aliens may prosecute claims in the court if they are citizens or subjects of countries which give citizens of the United States a similar right abroad. In all cases, however, claims are barred if not filed within six years from the time they accrue. Claims of married women, minors, and others subject to disabilities are exceptions to this rule. Claimants must establish actual ownership of claims, and they must prove too that they have not engaged in or abetted rebellion against the United States.

The court has power to establish rules, punish for contempt, appoint commissioners, and administer oaths. It can fix fees for taking testimony before its commissioners and also call on departments for information in connection with any claim. It may also decline to take testimony in any case in which the petition does not, in the opinion of the court, contain facts which furnish ground for belief. Subpoenas issued by the court for the taking of testimony have the same effect as if issued from a District Court. The court can order a claim forfeited for fraud, if it determines that such practice has been effected or attempted, and to bar permanently the prosecutor of the claim.

Upon final judgment by the court or affirmation of appealed judgments, the amounts found due are payable out of any general appropriation made for the satisfaction of private claims.

Claims specially referred by Congress for report of facts and findings are not final judgments, but depend on legislative action for ultimate adjustment. Findings with relation to accounts of officers are certified to the accounting officers of the Treasury. Judgments for the payment of which there is no appropriation are certified by the Secretary of the Treasury to Congress along with the annual estimates, if they are not appealable or have been affirmed. They bear interest at the rate of four per cent until appropriation is made for payment. Final judgment against a claim

acts as a permanent bar for its subsequent prosecution in any respect.

There are two principal classes of claims that have been referred by Congress to the Court of Claims for investigation and report. These are for supplies and stores furnished to the armed forces of the United States during the Civil War and known as "Bowman Act" cases, and for vessels and goods captured or destroyed by the French Republic in 1800.

Under the Bowman Act the court is expressly prohibited from considering claims for property destroyed or damaged during the Civil War although Congress has taken up a considerable number of such claims. In claims for supplies, the loyalty of the claimant during the war must be affirmatively established.

Under the statute formerly in effect, no interested person could be a competent witness in support of a claim. This provision was repealed by the Bowman Act and now no person may be excluded as a witness on account of interest.

In the act relating to French spoliation claims, cases were specifically restricted to those under the convention before named, and the Secretary of State was directed to secure evidence abroad for the use of claimants and to turn it and the files of the department relating to these matters over to the court. Claims were to be presented within two years (period closed 1887) and the finding of the court is stated to be advisory only. Congress did not commit itself to the payment of the claims. In the Bowman Act, on the other hand, the reports of the court are held to exist from session to session until the appropriation is made for the payment of admitted claims.

In several years appropriations have been made for the payment of French spoliation claims, but there is a reluctance to include these payments in the annual appropriations and such payments as have been made, have been practically forced as a condition of the payment of the awards under the Bowman Act.

By one of the acts appropriating money to meet French

spoliation claims, it was provided that the payments should be made to the next of kin of those who sustained the losses and not to assignees in bankruptcy.

By subsequent legislation in addition to those summarized above, District Courts are given concurrent jurisdiction with the Court of Claims over claims amounting to one thousand dollars and Circuit Courts from one to ten thousand dollars.1 The Attorney-General reports to Congress adverse decisions in such claims.

In January, 1891, the examination and adjudication of claims arising out of Indian depredations were added to the jurisdiction of the Court of Claims. The Interior Department had previously been authorized to take up the work, and still retains a division of Indian depredations having other than judicial functions. The claims heard include those for property of citizens of the United States destroyed by Indians who at the time were in amity with the Government, and in cases where no just cause or provocation was given by the owner or agent in charge. Judgments in these cases by the Court of Claims are made final unless that court shall grant a re-hearing. Upon the decree of the court the amount found to be payable is taken from the funds of the tribe whose members were responsible for the damage, or from the Treasury and charged against any future payments which may become due to the tribe from the United States. The Attorney-General certifies to Congress such amounts due. There are no tribal funds to satisfy, and accordingly appropriation is made for payment and charged against the tribe.

1 By the abolishment of the Circuit Courts the District Courts take over all this concurrent jurisdiction.

CHAPTER VIII

TERRITORIAL COURTS

In a sense all courts of a Territory of the United States are Federal courts since Congress controls the governments of all the territories. Of these there are at present only Alaska, Porto Rico, Indian Territory and Hawaii. Alaska and Indian Territory are still classed as unorganized territories, that is to say, they are still in a state of governmental transition and have no legislatures. Indian Territory is the only Territory of the United States, within the bounds of the country, properly speaking, which was never intended ultimately to acquire statehood. There has never been a single, uniform government there, the theory being that the five tribes, Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, Seminoles and Chickasaws, are separate nations governing themselves in conformity with treaties with the Government at Washington. Each "nation" had a written constitution providing for a government republican in form, with legislatures, courts and civil processes not unlike those of the state governments. Nevertheless the theory was only a theory as the so-called treaties admitted the predominance of the Washington Government and authorized the interference of United States officers. No white man was allowed to live in the Territory, but in 1898 the abuses incident to a violation of this dictum by trickery and corruption on the part of the whites became intolerable, and Congress was compelled to interfere and assume control without completely subverting the theoretical tribal governments. A general code of laws was prescribed and several Federal courts were established. Concerning Alaska there are executive officers appointed by the president and the Senate. They are a governor, attorney-general and surveyor-general.