"court of appeals" for "circuit court of appeals"; "chief judge of the circuit" for "senior circuit judge"; "chief judge of the district court" for "senior district judge"; "chief judge" for "presiding judge"; "chief judge" for "chief justice", except when reference to the Chief Justice of the United States is intended; and "judge" for "justice", except when the latter term is used with respect to a justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in his capacity as such or as a circuit justice.

(b) All laws of the United States in force on September 1, 1948, in which reference is made to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia or to the District Court of the United States for the District of Columbia are amended by substituting "United States District Court for the District of Columbia" for such designations.

(c) All laws of the United States in force on September 1, 1948, in which reference is made to the "Conference of Senior Circuit Judges", or to the "Judicial Conference of Senior Circuit Judges" are amended by substituting "Judicial Conference of the United States" for such designations.

(d) This section shall not be construed to amend historical references to courts or judicial offices which have no present or future application to such courts or offices.

SEC. 33. No inference of a legislative construction is to be drawn by reason of the chapter in Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, as set out in section 1 of this Act, in which any section is placed, nor by reason of the catchlines used in such title.

SEC. 34. If any part of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure, as set out in section 1 of this Act, shall be held invalid, the remainder shall not be affected thereby.

SEC. 37. Section 6 of the Act approved August 7, 1946 (ch. 864, 60 Stat. 903), is amended to read as follows:

"SEC. 6. Whenever any claimant under this Act is dissatisfied with the action of a department or agency of the Government in either granting or denying his claim, such claimant shall have the right within six months to file a petition with the Court of Claims or, if the claim does not exceed $10,000 in amount or suit has heretofore been brought

or is brought within thirty days after the enactment of this amendatory act, with any Federal district court of competent jurisdiction, asking a determination by the court of the equities involved in such claim; and upon the filing of such a petition, the court, sitting as a court of equity, shall have jurisdiction to determine the amount, if any, to which such claimant and petitioner may be equitably entitled (not exceeding the amount which might have been allowed by the department or agency concerned under the terms of this Act) and to enter an order directing such department or agency to settle the claim in accordance with the finding of the court; and thereafter either party may appeal from the decision if it was rendered by a district court or petition the Supreme Court for a writ of certiorari if it was rendered by the Court of Claims, as in other cases. Any case heretofore brought in a district court under this section may, at the election of the petitioner to be exercised within thirty days after the enactment of this amendatory Act, be transferred to the Court of Claims for original disposition in that court."

SEC. 38. The provisions of this Act [Public No. 773] shall take effect on September 1, 1948.

SEC. 39. The sections or parts thereof of the Revised Statutes of the District of Columbia, Revised Statutes of the United States or Statutes at Large enumerated in the following schedule are hereby repealed. Any rights or liabilities now existing under such sections or parts thereof shall not be affected by this repeal.

[For particular and detailed information concerning the Acts or parts of Acts and sections or parts thereof of the Revised Statutes and of the Statutes at Large and of the United States Code which are repealed by Public No. 773, 80th Congress, 2nd Sess., and Public 72, 81st Congress, 1st Sess., reference should be had to the "Schedule of Law Repealed" given in these respective Acts.]

CASES DECIDED

IN

THE COURT OF CLAIMS

February 1, 1949, to June 30, 1949, and other cases not heretofore published

HORACE BYRON NEFF v. THE UNITED STATES

[No. 48830. Decided December 6, 1948. Plaintiff's motion for new trial overruled February 7, 1949]

On Defendant's Demurrer

Statute of Limitations; jurisdiction.-Where plaintiff's petition was filed more than six years after his services for the Government are alleged to have been performed; and where plaintiff does not claim to come within any of the exceptions named within the Statute of Limitations (28 U. S. C. 262); it is held that the Court of Claims is without jurisdiction and the petition is dismissed.

No appearance for plaintiff.

Mr. D. B. MacGuineas, with whom was Mr. Assistant Attorney General H. G. Morison, for the defendant.

The facts sufficiently appear from the opinion of the court. JONES, Chief Judge, delivered the opinion of the court: Plaintiff alleges that between the years 1930 and 1940 he devoted his time to a study of the economics of the United States and that during that period he wrote a number of legislative proposals which are listed in his petition; that these proposed bills were enacted into law; that he has made many applications to the Congress and the Government for compensation for his services and has not been paid therefor. He alleges that the reasonable value of his services in connection with the various proposed bills amounts to $75,000, for which he sues.

The petition was filed September 2, 1948.

The defendant demurs to the petition on the ground that the cause of action, if any existed, is barred by the Statute

1

Opinion of the Court

113 C. Cls.

of Limitations. Defendant further demurs on the ground that the petition does not allege any contract, express or implied, on the part of the Government to compensate the plaintiff.

The pertinent part of the Statute of Limitations embodied in Section 156 of the Judicial Code (28 U. S. C. 262) is as follows:

* * *

Every claim against the United States cognizable by the Court of Claims shall be forever barred unless the petition setting forth a statement thereof is filed in the court within six years after the claim first accrues. The claims of married women first accrued during marriage, of persons under the age of twenty-one years first accrued during minority, and of idiots, lunatics, insane persons, and persons beyond the seas at the time the claim accrued, entitled to the claim, shall not be barred if the petition be filed in the court within three years after the disability has ceased; but no other disability than those enumerated shall prevent any claim from being barred, nor shall any of the said disabilities operate cumulatively.

* * *

Since the petition was filed in September 1948, more than six years after the services were alleged to have been rendered, and since plaintiff does not claim to come within any of the exceptions named in the statute, this court is without jurisdiction to pass upon the merits of the claim. Any government, being sovereign, can be sued only in cases in which consent has been given. Under our system of government that consent can be given only by the Congress. Congress in its discretion has seen fit to limit that permission by specifying the time within which suit may be brought, and we have no choice in the matter.

In view of this disposition, it is not necessary to pass upon whether or not the petition directly or indirectly alleges a contract express or implied upon the part of the Government to compensate plaintiff for his services. In view of the fact that we have no jurisdiction under the terms of the statute to consider the claim on its merits, the demurrer is sustained and the petition dismissed. It is so ordered.

HOWELL, Judge; MADDEN, Judge; WHITAKER, Judge; and LITTLETON, Judge, concur.