United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Soule v. United States, 100 U.S. 8 (1879)

Soule v. United States

100 U.S. 8

Syllabus

Debt on the bond of a collector of internal revenue, bearing date Jan. 12, 1867.

Held:

1. That the audit of his accounts was the duty of the First Auditor.

2. That the settlement of them, as the same appears by the transcript from the books of the Treasury Department, duly certified and authenticated, is prima facie evidence of the balance thereby shown, and it is competent for the accounting officer to correct mistakes and restate the balance.

3. That the sureties are liable for the gauger's fees received by the collector.

4. Where a bond given by the latter is objectionable in point of form, the direction of the Commissioner of Internal Revenue to execute a new one must be considered as that of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the bond given in compliance therewith cannot be considered as having been extorted from the collector and his sureties contrary to the statute.

This was an action by the United States on the bond executed by Soule as collector of internal revenue for the first collection district of the State of California, and his sureties, bearing date Jan. 12, 1867, and conditioned according to law. There was a judgment in favor of the United States. The defendants sued out this writ of error.

The assignment of errors and the facts are set forth in the opinion of the Court.