An officer in the regular Navy, whose service therein was
continuous in various grades from 1860 to 1868 and who held the
rank of lieutenant commander when the Act of July 15th, 1870, c.
255, § 3, 16 Stat. 330, now § 1556 of the Revised Statutes, was
passed, giving graduated pay
Page 123 U. S. 187
for various ranks, is entitled to the benefit of the Act of
March 3, 1883, c. 97, 22 Stat. 473.
It is not necessary that he should have entered the service more
than once.
This was an appeal from a judgment in the Court of Claims in the
claimant's favor. The case is stated in the opinion of the
Court.
MR. JUSTICE BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an appeal by the United States from a judgment of the
Court of Claims for the sum of $356.03 in favor of Dennis W.
Mullan. Mullan is an officer in the regular Navy, who has served
continuously therein since September 21, 1860, on which day he was
appointed acting midshipman. He was appointed acting ensign October
21, 1863; master, May 10, 1866; lieutenant, February 21, 1867, and
lieutenant commander, March 12, 1868. He was paid for all of his
services in those capacities, in accordance with the laws in force
at the time they were performed. In addition, he claimed to be
entitled to the benefit of the provisions of the Act of March 3,
1883, c. 97, 22 Stat. 473, which reads as follows:
"And all officers of the Navy shall be credited with the actual
time they may have served as officers or enlisted men in the
regular or volunteer Army or Navy, or both, and shall receive all
the benefits of such actual service in all respects in the same
manner as if all said service had been continuous, and in the
regular Navy, in the lowest grade having graduated pay held by such
officer since last entering the service,
provided that
nothing in this clause shall be so construed as to authorize any
change in the dates of commission or in the relative rank of such
officers;
provided further that nothing herein contained
shall be so construed as to give any additional pay to any such
officer during the time of his service in the volunteer Army or
Navy. "
Page 123 U. S. 188
The Court of Claims held that Mullan was entitled to $356.03
under that act. The amount is not questioned by the government, if
the Court of Claims decided the question of law correctly.
Graduated pay for various ranks in the Navy was given by the Act of
July 15, 1870, c. 295, § 3, 16 Stat. 330, now § 1556 of the Revised
Statutes. At the time of the passage of the act of 1883, Mullan was
a lieutenant commander, who had served as an officer in the regular
Navy from September 21, 1860, by continuous service, and, while he
held the rank of lieutenant commander, graduated pay was given by
statute to officers of that rank and other officers. By the
provisions of the act of 1883, he is to be credited with his actual
time of service, and is to receive all the benefits of that service
in all respects in the same manner as if all of that service had
been continuous in the lowest grade having graduated pay held by
him since last entering the service.
It is contended on the part of the United States that the Act of
March 3, 1883, applies to officers serving in the regular Navy only
when their term of service has not been continuous. The view is
urged that the expression "since last entering the service" implies
that the officer, to be entitled to the benefit of the statute,
must have entered the service more than once. But we think that
this is an overstrained interpretation. Mullan entered the service
once. It was his last entry as well as his first entry. Where an
officer has entered the service twice, the second entry is the last
entry, and that entry is to be taken in applying the statute to his
case; but where an officer has entered the service but once, that
entry is to be taken as the last entry within the meaning of the
statute. So too, the expression "as if all said service had been
continuous" is not to be held to confine the benefits of the
statute to a service which has been noncontinuous. The expression
is satisfied by considering it as an extension of the benefits of
the statute to interrupted noncontinuous service, and by crediting
the officer with the actual time of such service as if it had been
continuous service. Otherwise the statute cannot be carried out. It
says that
"All officers of the Navy shall be credited with the actual
time
Page 123 U. S. 189
they may have served as officers or enlisted men in the regular
or volunteer Army or Navy, or both,"
and the benefits of such actual service are to be received where
the service has been continuous in the regular Navy.
The judgment of the Court of Claims is
Affirmed.