United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

United States v. Morrow, 266 U.S. 531 (1925)

United States v. Morrow

No. 98

Argued October 21, 1924

Decided January 5, 1925

266 U.S. 531

Syllabus

1. Although a proviso is sometimes used to introduce independent legislation, the presumption is that, in accordance with its primary purpose, it applies only to the provision to which it is attached. P. 266 U. S. 534.

2. A proviso may be examined in the light of prior legislation, the condition it was evidently intended to correct, and its legislative history. P. 266 U. S. 535.

Page 266 U. S. 532

3. The provisos found in the Army Appropriation Act of 1915, and 191, which granted additional pay to clerks and messengers at headquarters of territorial departments, etc., while serving in the Philippine Islands, are confined to those positions for which specific salaries were appropriated by the preceding clause to which the provisos are attached, and are inapplicable to a chief clerk of the depot quartermaster's office at Manila whose salary was fixed by the War Department and paid out of lump sums appropriated elsewhere in these statutes. P. 266 U. S. 534.

58 Ct. Clms. 20 reversed.

Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Claims rejecting a claim for additional pay.