STANFORD UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES AUG-6 1974 F191 сь V.19 428426 COPYRIGHT BY THE COLUMBIA HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1916 PRESS OF TABLE OF CONTENTS. History and Jurisdiction of the United States Court of Claims. By Stanton J. Peelle, Chief Justice, Re- Literary Landmarks. By Margaret Brent Downing.... The Mayors of the Corporation of Washington: Thomas Carbery. By Allen C. Clark..... Historical Sketch of George Washington University, Washington, D. C., Accompanied by a Sketch of the Lives of the Presidents. By Rear Admiral Charles Maryland's Part in Founding the Federal Government. Pan-Americanism and its Inspiration in History. By Hon. John Barrett, Director General of the Pan- In Memoriam-Alexander Burton Hagner. By W. B. Twenty-Second Annual Report of the Curator Report of the Chronicler for 1915 Necrology 210 222 227 HISTORY AND JURISDICTION OF THE UNITED STATES COURT OF CLAIMS. BY STANTON J. PEELLE, CHIEF JUSTICE, RETIRED, U. S. COURT OF CLAIMS. (Read before the Society, January 19, 1915.) The history and jurisdiction of the United States Court of Claims is so little understood by the citizens for whose benefit the Court was mainly established, that I gladly accepted your invitation to say a few words tonight. The law is universal that the sovereign may not be sued without her consent first had, nor can Congress pass any law abridging the right of the people "to petition to the Government for a redress of grievances"; but the right of Congress to hear and investigate such petitions may be delegated to a Court or to a Commission and so in December, 1854, claims against the government had accumulated to such an extent that their investigation became burdensome and vexatious to the various committees of Congress. With the view of relief from such labor and at the same time to preserve to the citizen the right of petition, a bill was introduced to establish a court for the investigation of such claims, and on February 25, 1855, 10 Statutes at Large, 612, the bill became a law creating the Court of Claims; that is, the sovereign thereby consented to be sued by her creditors on claims arising out of the Constitution, and any law of Congress or Executive Regulation or on contracts, express or implied. The Act provided for appointment by the President, |