Samuel Freeman Miller

“ If the government had not become liable, by reason of the original receipt of the money from Great Britain, under the treaty by which that country was discharged and released from the claim of plaintiff, it is difficult to comprehend how it became liable by a mere change in the manner of keeping the account. Whether the United States was liable on the bonds held in its own treasury vaults, or on account of the actual money represented by those bonds in the same vaults, cannot be material in estimating the nature and extent of that obligation. ”

“ The question of jurisdiction is the one raised by the motion, and is always to be decided before the court can properly inquire into the merits, and we are of opinion that, even if the circumstances recited in the petition can be held to raise an implied obligation on the part of the United States, the court of claims is forbidden to take jurisdiction in this class of cases. ”

“ This limitation of the jurisdiction of the court of claims is in accord with the uniform course of the government in dealing with claims of our citizens against foreign governments. In such cases, where those governments have acknowledged a liability, but the amount of the number of the claims is in controversy, mixed commissions, composed of arbitrators appointed by each party, and an umpire, have usually been created by a treaty, which made the award of the commission obligatory. ”