dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or by such fine and imprisonment both, in the discretion of the court. See also section 122, Criminal Code, in effect January 1, 1910. Section 335, Criminal Code, provides that all offenses which may be punished Approved, January 16, 1883. by death or imprisonment for a term exceeding one year shall be deemed felonies. STATUTES AFFECTING THE CLASSIFIED SERVICE. DIRECTORY STATUTES." authority to regulations appointment. 1753. The President is authorized to prescribe such regula- President's tions for the admission of persons into the civil service of prescribe the United States as may best promote the efficiency concerning thereof, and ascertain the fitness of each candidate in R. S., sec. respect to age, health, character, knowledge, and ability for the branch of service into which he seeks to enter; and for this purpose he may employ suitable persons to conduct such inquiries, and may prescribe their duties, and establish regulations for the conduct of persons who may receive appointments in the civil service." regulations. The head of each department is authorized to prescribe Departmental regulations, not inconsistent with law, for the govern- R. S., sec. 161. ment of his department, the conduct of its officers and clerks, the distribution and performance of its business, and the custody, use, and preservation of the records, papers, and property appertaining to it. Departmental regulations, force of.The regulation of a department of the Government is not to control the construction of an act of Congress when its meaning is plain, but when there has been a long acquiescence in a regulation, and by it rights of parties for many years have been determined and adjusted, it is not to be disregarded without the most cogent and persuasive reasons. (22 Op. A. G., 163.) (Upon this general subject see also Opinions of Attorneys-General: 10 Op., 469; 11 Op., 109; 15 Op., 94, and 22 Op., 266. c) open to R. S., sec. 165. Women may, in the discretion of the head of any de- Clerkships partment, be appointed to any of the clerkships therein women. authorized by law, upon the same requisites and conditions, and with the same compensation, as are prescribed for men. a These statutes either authorize or direct certain ways of conducting the public business which falls within the purview of the civil-service act and rules, and depend upon administrative discipline for their enforcement. b By virtue of the authority contained in this section, the regulations described on page 163, governing the employment of unclassified laborers, have been promulgated. c The general subject of the legal force of regulations is treated at length in "Remarks on the Army Regulations and Executive Regulations in General," by G. Norman Lieber, Judge-Advocate-General, United States Army (1898). Number of clerks of higher grade may be diminished and lower increased, 19 Stat. L., 169, 1 Supp., 120. Whenever, in the judgment of the head of any department, the duties assigned to a clerk of one class can be as well performed by a clerk of a lower class or by a female clerk, it shall be lawful for him to diminish the number chap. 287, sec. 3; of the clerks of the higher grade and increase the number of clerks of the lower grade within the limit of the total appropriation for such clerical service: Provided, That in making any reduction of force in any of the executive departments, the head of such department shall retain those persons who may be equally qualified who have been honorably discharged from the military or naval service of the United States and the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors. Preference in reduction of force. Reduction in salary or rank.-Ex-soldiers or sailors, or the widows and orphans of deceased soldiers and sailors, are not entitled to preference over other persons under section 1754 and other statutes War veteran when reductions in salary and rank are to be made, even though their qualifications are equal. (Op. Att'y Gen'l, July 28, 1909.) Persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service by reason of disability resulting from wounds or sickness incurred in the line of duty shall be preferred for appointments to civil offices, provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of such offices. Preference under section 1754, Revised Statutes.-The joint resolution of March 3, 1865 (sec. 1754, R. S.), considered in connection with the act of March 3, 1871, chapter 114, is construed to mean that honorably discharged soldiers and sailors are not exempt from liability to examination for admission into the civil service, but that they are entitled to a preference for appointment as against other persons of equal qualifications for the place. (17 Op. A. G., 194.) Assignments and transfers of railway mail clerks. Post-office 33 St. L., 1088. Removal of veterans.-The removal of an honorably discharged soldier from a position in an executive department “because of his rating as inefficient" is the exercise of a purely executive power, and the reasons for such exercise can not be inquired into by the courts. (Keim v. U. S., 177 U. S., 290.) Preference under this section applies only to original entrance to the service and not to promotion. In the assignment or transfer of clerks from the railway mail service, however, preference shall be given to the persons honorably discharged from the military or naval service who served in the civil war and who are now serving as clerks on the railway mail cars in order that they may be transferred to clerical service in the department or in the post-offices and relieved from service on said cars as rapidly as practicable, provided they are found to possess the business capacity necessary for the proper discharge of the duties of the offices to which they may be transferred. * certificate of 235. * That hereafter every application for exami- Residencenation before the Civil Service Commission for appoint-proper officer. ment in the departmental service in the District of Columbia shall be accompanied by a certificate of an officer, with his official seal attached, of the county and State of which the applicant claims to be a citizen, that such applicant was, at the time of making such application, an actual and bona fide resident of said county, and had been such resident for a period of not less than six months next preceding." 235; Sup. R. But this provision shall not apply to persons who may 26 Stat. L. be in the service and seek promotion or appointment in S., vol. 1, 2d other branches of the Government. as Certificate of county officer in application for examination.-The words "departmental service" and "the service," used in the proviso in that part of the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriation act of July 11, 1890, chapter 667, which relates to the Civil Service Commission, mean the classified civil service as established by sections 163 and 167, Revised Statutes, and section 6 of the act of January 16, 1883, chapter 27. The words in the same proviso, viz, "Promotion or appointment in other branches of the Government," signify promotion or appointment in the classified service of some other department than that to which the applicant may belong. Semble, That an application for a transfer is not within the exception of the proviso. Congress not having designated in the proviso any particular county officer or officers who may make the certificate required to accompany the application, this matter must be presumed to have been left as a subject for regulation by the Civil Service Commission. (19 Op. A. G., 624.) Authority of the Commission to prescribe certain regulations respecting legal residence. The President and the Civil Service Commission can make all reasonable regulations as to the nature of the testimony required to establish the facts as to residence, but they can not narrow * * * ed., p. 772, the definition of the statutory phrase "actual bona fide residence" found in the act of July 11, 1890. (26 Stat., 235.) Actual bona fide residence.-Just what constitutes an actual bona fide resident is not always easy to determine. That a man may have an actual bona fide residence in one place and be bodily absent therefrom for months and even years together is certainly true. Instance of a government official. Such a person is liable to all the burdens of residence and citizenship at home. A person who leaves his home in one of the States, with his family, and engages in business, public or private, in the District of Columbia, or elsewhere, denies his liability to the burdens of residence at his former state home, and is not an actual bona fide resident of that place. Claim to vote in the State from which he came would not make him a proper applicant for the examination provided for in this section. It was the purpose of the act to discriminate against persons of the latter class, persons who claim the benefit of state citizenship and disclaim or fail to discharge any of the obligations of such state residence and citizenship. (20 Op. A. G., 60.) Residence, married women.-The legal residence of a married woman is the same as that of her husband, and so remains until she is separated from him by an absolute or limited divorce. A married woman living apart or divorced from her a Actual domicile of one year now required by Act of July 2, 1909. See page 158. husband may, if she so desires, for the purpose of filing an application for examination, claim a legal residence other than his, but she must furnish a sworn statement of the facts upon which she bases her claim to a separate legal residence. Prohibition of voluntary service except in emergencies. 23 Stat. L., 17; Supp. R. S., vol. 1, 2d ed., p. 427.6 No civil pension roll. 30 Stat. L., 890, chap. 187, Residence, minors.-The legal residence of minors is the same as that of their parents or guardians. See section 7, Census Act of July 2, 1909, and legal opinion relative thereto on page 158. * * Hereafter all examinations of applicants for positions in the government service, from any State or Territory, shall be had in the State or Territory in which such applicant resides, and no person shall be eligible for such examination or appointment unless he or she shall have been actually domiciled in such State or Territory for at least one year previous to such examination. (Sec. 7, Census Act of July 2, 1909.) See opinions, Attorney-General, August 18, 1909, and November 15, 1909, page 158. PROHIBITORY STATUTES WITHOUT PENALTIES." * * * Hereafter no department or officer of the United States shall accept voluntary service for the Government or employ personal service in excess of that authorized by law except in cases of sudden emergency involving the loss of human life or the destruction of property. The establishment of a civil pension roll or an honorable service roll, and the exemption of any of the officers, sec 4; 2 Supp., clerks, or persons in the public service from the existing laws respecting employment in such service is hereby prohibited. 946. No employment permitted except upon specific appropriation. 22 St. L., 255. * * That no civil officer, clerk, draughtsman, copyist, messenger, assistant messenger, mechanic, watchman, laborer, or other employee shall * be employed in any of the executive departments or subordinate bureaus or offices thereof at the seat of government, except only at such rates and in such numbers, respectively, as may be specifically appropriated for by Congress for such clerical and other personal services for each fiscal year; and no civil officer, clerk, draughtsman, copyist, messenger, assistant messenger, mechanic, watchman, laborer, or other employee shall hereafter be employed at the seat of government in any executive department or subordinate bureau or office thereof or be paid from any appropriation made a Many statutes affecting the public service declare certain acts unlawful and yet provide no penalty for their violation. The efficiency of administrative discipline and the recognized nullity of acts done in violation of law is considered sufficient for their enforcement. For convenience they are grouped under the above designation. b See Glavey v. U. S. (1900), 35 Ct. Cls., 242. |