United States v. Macdonald
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Maine
This was an action of debt [by the United States against Moses Macdonald, Levi Mor-rell, Samuel Jordan, and Harrison J. Libbey], and the case came before the court upon the demurrer of the plaintiffs to the rejoinder of the defendants. The declaration was drawn upon the bond of the first-named defendant as collector of the customs for the district of Portland and Falmouth in the state of Maine, and the other defendants were his sureties.
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This was an action of debt [by the United States against Moses Macdonald, Levi Mor-rell, Samuel Jordan, and Harrison J. Libbey], and the case came before the court upon the demurrer of the plaintiffs to the rejoinder of the defendants. The declaration was drawn upon the bond of the first-named defendant as collector of the customs for the district of Portland and Falmouth in the state of Maine, and the other defendants were his sureties. He was appointed collector prior to the 20th of January, 1858, and between that day and the 18th of April, 1861, received for storage of merchandise in…
1Opinion of the Court
CLIFFORD, Circuit Justice.
Unaided by former decisions, the question is ore which would require an elaborate consideration, but it is not a new question, as will presently more fully appear. U. S. v. Walker, 22 How. [63 U. S.] 303.
Collectors receive a prescribed sum called salary, but their principal compensation is now, and always has been, derived from certain enumerated fees, commissions, and allowances authorized by acts of congress. Provision for such fees, commissions, and allowances was first made by the act of the 31st of July 1789, which also allowed to those officers certain…
2Cited by2 opinions
- United States v. EllsworthSupreme Court of the United States · 1880
- United States v. LawsonSupreme Court of the United States · 1880