United States v. Crosley, 196 U.S. 327 (1905)
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United States v. Crosley
No. 96
Submitted December 9, 1904
Decided January 23, 1905
196 U.S. 327
APPEAL FROM THE COURT OF CLAIMS
Syllabus
While the court may not add to or take from the terms of a statute, the main purpose of construction is to give effect to the legislative intent as expressed in the act under consideration.
The Navy Personnel Act undertook to equalize the pay of naval officers with those officers of the Army of equal rank as to duties properly required of a naval officer, and it has no operation to provide pay for services peculiar to the Army.
A lieutenant in the Navy serving as aid to a rear admiral is entitled to the additional two hundred dollars allowed to a lieutenant serving as aid to a major general under § 1261, Rev.Stat., but he is not entitled to the mounted pay allowed to the army lieutenant serving as such aid under § 1301, Army Regulations.
This case was tried in the Court of Claims upon a petition filed to recover pay for services in the United States Navy, rendered by the defendant in error while he was a lieutenant of the junior grade, and acting as aid to Rear Admiral Watson, then serving with the rank of rear admiral in the nine higher numbers of that grade, and, under section 1466 of the Revised Statutes, entitled to rank with a major general in the Army. The claimant alleges that he should have received from the first day of July, 1899, to the eighth day of September, 1899 --
Pay of a first lieutenant in the
Army, being the grade corresponding
to lieutenant, junior grade, in
the Navy, under Rev.Stat. § 1261 . . . . . . $1,500
Longevity pay under Rev.Stat. § 1262,
for second five years of service . . . . . . 150
Pay as aid to rear admiral of
corresponding grade to major
general, under Rev.Stat. § 1261. . . . . . . 200
Mounted pay due under Army
Regulations of 1895, paragraph 1301, to
"authorize aids duly appointed". . . . . . . 100
Longevity pay upon the last two
items, under Rev.Stat. § 1262. . . . . . . . 30
------
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,980
That, from September 9, 1899, to September 8, 1900 he was entitled to pay as follows:
Pay of a first lieutenant in the
Army Under Rev.Stat. § 1261 . . . . . . . . $1,500
Longevity pay under Rev.Stat. § 262, for
third five years of service . . . . . . . . 300
Pay as aid to rear admiral of corresponding
grade to major general, under Rev.Stat.
§ 1261 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
Mounted pay due under Army Regulations
of 1895, paragraph 1301. . . . . . . . . . . 100
Longevity pay on the last two items
under Rev.Stat. § 1262 . . . . . . . . . . . 60
------
Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,160
He received pay during the period in controversy at the rate of $1,800 per annum, being from July 1, 1899, to September 8, 1899, the rate of pay granted by statute, Rev.Stat. § 1556, to a lieutenant, junior grade at sea during his first five years in that rank, and for the period from September 9, 1899, to September 8, 1900, being the rate fixed by Rev.Stat. § 1261, for a first lieutenant not mounted, with the longevity allowance of the statute, § 1262, for the third five years of service, and he claims that, in addition to the amount allowed, he is entitled to pay or allowance as aid to a rear admiral; also, mounted pay due for such service, with the longevity pay arising from the items in question. In all, he claims the sum of $394.
The Court of Claims, upon the hearing, made the following findings of fact:
The claimant entered service in the United States Navy on the 9th day of September, 1899, and from the 1st day of July, 1899, until the 8th day of September, 1900, was a lieutenant, junior grade, in the Navy, and an aid to Rear Admiral J. C. Watson; Rear Admiral Watson was at that time one of the nine higher numbers of the grade of rear admiral, and was entitled, under section 1466 of the Revised Statutes, to rank with a major general in the United States Army. During said period, claimant was paid at the rate of $1,800 a year.
And, as conclusions of law, held:
Upon the foregoing findings of fact, the court decides, as a conclusion of law, that the claimant recover judgment of and from the United States in the sum of three hundred and ninety-four dollars ($394).
From the judgment of that court, the United States appeals to this Court.