The Court of Claims was a federal court that heard claims against the United States government. It was established in 1855 as the Court of Claims, renamed in 1948 to the United States Court of Claims (67 Stat. 226), and abolished in 1982.

Before the Court of Claims was established, monetary claims against the federal government were normally submitted through petitions to Congress. By the time of the Court's creation, this workload had gotten unwieldy, so Congress gave the Court jurisdiction to hear all monetary claims based upon a law, a regulation, or a federal government contract. The Court was required to report its findings to Congress and to prepare bills for payments to claimants whose petitions were approved by the Court; since only Congress was constitutionally empowered to make appropriations, Congress still had to approve these bills and reports, but this was normally pro forma. Contracting with the U.S. Government is based on the same principles as commercial contracting and can be very profitable, but is sufficiently different from commercial contracting to require special care. ...

The Court originally had three judges, who were given lifetime appointments. The judges were authorized to appoint commissioners to take depositions and issue subpoenas. The federal government was represented in the Court by a solicitor appointed by the President.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln in his Annual Message to Congress asked that the court be given the power to issue final judgments. Congress granted this power with the Act of March 3, 1863 (12 Stat. 765), and explicitly made the judgments appealable to the Supreme Court. However, it also modified the law governing the Court so that its reports and bills were sent to the Department of the Treasury rather than directly to Congress. The moneys to cover these costs were then made a part of the appropriation for the Treasury Department. 2003 State of the Union address given by U.S. President George W. Bush The State of the Union Address is an annual event in which the President of the United States reports on the status of the country, normally to a joint session of the U.S. Congress (the... March 3 is the 62nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (63rd in leap years). ... 1863 (MDCCCLXIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar). ... The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States and leads the judicial branch of the United States federal government. ... The United States Department of the Treasury is a Cabinet department and the treasury of the United States government. ...

The conflict inherent between these two provisions was made manifest when in 1864, the decision in Gordon v. United States was appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court denied that it had jurisdiction, because the decisions of the Court of Claims, hence any appeals, were subject to review by an executive department (69 U.S. 561; see also 117 U.S. 697). Less than a year later, Congress passed a law (14 Stat. 9) removing review of the Court of Claims from the Treasury Department.

In 1887, Congress passed the Tucker Act (24 Stat. 505), which further restricted the claims that could be submitted directly to Congress, requiring that these claims instead be submitted to the Court of Claims. It broadened the court's jurisdiction so that “claims founded upon the Constitution” could be heard. In particular, this meant that monetary claims based on takings under the eminent domain clause of the Fifth Amendment could be brought before the Court of Claims. Through the Tucker Act (Act of March 3, 1887, ch. ... A taking is an action by a government depriving a person of private property without the payment of just compensation. ... Eminent domain (US), compulsory purchase (United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland), resumption (Australia) or expropriation (Canada, South Africa) in common law legal systems is the inherent power of the state to expropriate private property without the owners consent, either for its own use or by delegation of the taking power... Amendment V (the Fifth Amendment) of the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, is related to legal procedure. ...

In 1925, Congress changed the structure of the Court of Claims by authorizing the Court to appoint seven commissioners who were empowered to hear evidence and report on findings of fact. The judges of the Court of Claims would then serve as a board of review for the commissioners.

In 1932, Congress reduced the salary of the judges of the Court of Claims as part of the Economy Act of 1932. Thomas Sutler Williams was one of the judges of the Court, and he sued the federal government, claiming that his salary could not be cut because the Constitution specified that judicial salaries could not be reduced. The Supreme Court ruled on Williams v. United States in 1933, deciding that the Court of Claims was an Article I or legislative court, and that therefore Congress had the authority to reduce the salaries of the judges of the Court of Claims. In the United States, federal courts or tribunals can be classified as either Article I tribunals or Article III tribunals. ...

In 1953, Congress passed a law (67 Stat. 226) which converted the Court of Claims into an Article III court. Article Three of the United States Constitution establishes the judicial branch of the federal (national) government. ...

In 1982, Congress abolished the court, transferring its trial level jurisdiction to the newly created United States Claims Court (which is now known as the United States Court of Federal Claims) and its appellate jurisdiction to the equally new United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. By this time, the Court had expanded to have seven judges; they were transferred to the Federal Circuit. The United States Court of Federal Claims is a special court created on October 1, 1982 by the U.S. Congress and headquartered in Washington, D.C.. By federal law, claims brought against the United States must be brought in this court; however, as this court is established under Article... The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, or simply the Federal Circuit, was founded in 1982 to combine similar federal cases to a specialized appellate court. ...

References

Books

• Bennett, Marion Tinsley (1976). The United States Court of Claims: A History; Part I: The Judges, 1855–1976. Washington, D.C.: Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States.
• Cowen, Wilson, Philip Nichols, Jr., and Marion T. Bennett (1978). The United States Court of Claims: A History; Part II: Origin, Development, Jurisdiction, 1855–1978. Committee on the Bicentennial of Independence and the Constitution of the Judicial Conference of the United States.

Journals

• (January 1955). "The Constitutional Status of the Court of Claims". Harvard Law Review 68 (3): 527–535.

Websites

• Court of Claims, 1855–1982. Official website of the Federal Judicial Center. Retrieved on 2006-09-28.