Rufus Wheeler Peckham

“ That they might be founded upon certificates was immaterial, for it cannot be supposed that Congress by the act of 1884 meant to prohibit the payment of certificates which were in suit under the act of 1880, and upon which judgment might thereafter be rendered by the court of claims. Full effect can be given to the act of 1884 by confining it to the prohibition of payment of certificates which might, after the year, be presented in that form for payment, leaving the provisions for payment on suit brought under the act of 1880 in full force. ”

“ Unless this be so, the value of this writ is very greatly impaired. Every executive officer whose duty is plainly devolved upon him by statute might refuse to perform it, and when his refusal is brought before the court he might successfully plead that the performance of the duty involved the construction of a statute by him, and therefore it was not ministerial, and the court would on that account be powerless to give relief. ”

“ If the law direct him to perform an act in regard to which no discretion is committed to him, and which, upon the facts existing, he is bound to perform, then that act is ministerial, although depending upon a statute which requires, in some degree, a construction of its language by the officer. ”

“ One Charles E. Evans, who, previous to 1874, had done a large amoune of work for the District in laying concrete and brick pavements in the city of Washington, duly presented his claims on that account to the board of audit constituted under the act above mentioned, which board, after an examination of such claims, executed on the 1st of August, 1874, the two certificates which form the basis of the claim of the relator, each certificate being dated on that day, one of which acknowledged an indebtedness to him on the part of the District of Columbia of $19,616.25 and the other $909.40. ”

“ The judgment roll in the action is of record in the court of claims, and that roll showed precisely and in detail that the judgment was recovered upon those specific certificates, and upon nothing else, and when the Treasurer pays such judgment there is thus record evidence that he has paid the certificates mentioned in the judgment roll, upon which certificates the judgment itself was recovered. ”