Congress' constitutional power to make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces includes the power to provide for the trial and punishment of persons belonging to the Navy or Marine Corps without a jury.27

The qualification as to actual service in time of war in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution refers only to the militia.28

The court-martial must have jurisdiction to render judgment as well as to hear and determine the cause.29 When a court-martial has jurisdiction of the person of the accused and of the offense charged, and has acted within the scope of its lawful powers, its decision and sentence cannot be reviewed or set aside by the civil courts, by writ of habeas corpus or otherwise.27 28

Only in case it clearly appears that a court-martial is about to exceed its jurisdiction may a writ of prohibition be obtained from a civil court.30

(d) Officers Must Testify as to Court-Martial Record.-Officers of the Naval Establishment are bound to testify in regard to the contents of the record of proceedings of a court-martial, when required by a commission of a state court, for such a record is that of an adjudicated case.31

8. Admission of Attorneys to Practice

There are no requirements for admission of attorneys to practice before courts-martial, or otherwise to represent clients in the Navy Department.

For amended Articles for the Government of the Navy, see Comp. St. §§ 2962–2980, 2981, 2982, 2984-2986, 2994, 2995-3005, 3007-3016, 3018-3021, 3023, 3024, 3026, 3027-3034.

27 In re Bogart, 2 Sawy. 396, Fed. Cas. No. 1596.

28 Johnson v. Sayre, 158 U. S. 109, 15 S. Ct. 773, 39 L. Ed. 914.

29 Ex parte Reed, 100 U. S. 13, 25 L. Ed. 538.

30 Smith v. Whitney, supra.

31 11 Op. Attys. Gen. 137.

269*

PART VIII

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

271*

THORPE DEPT.PRAO.

1. Mission✅

CHAPTER 25

DEPARTMENT IN GENERAL

The character of the mission of the Interior Department is to advance the domestic interests of the people, as represented by the National Park Service, the Bureau of Education, and the Department's connection with the eleemosynary institutions, and to develop domestic resources, as represented by the Bureau of Mines and Reclamation and the Geological Survey.

The department is charged with various miscellaneous duties, such as supervision over the government railroad in Alaska, and in relation to the territories of Hawaii and Alaska;1 renting buildings acquired for the enlargement of Capitol grounds, etc. ; custody of records of the United States Fuel Administration and Bituminous Coal Commission 3 and custody of the records and property of the United States Coal Commission; adjustment of war minerals relief claims for losses incurred in producing, or preparing to produce, manganese, chrome, pyrites, or tungsten during the war.5

2. History

For several years prior to the middle of the last century there was no little agitation in and out of Congress for the establishment of a Home Department, in contradistinction to the State, War, and Navy Departments, for, a congressional committee said: "War and preparations for war have been practically regarded as the chief duty of this government, while the acts of peace and production, whereby nations are subsisted, civilization advanced, and happiness secured, have been esteemed unworthy the attention, or foreign to the objects, of this government."

The recommendations of the said committee bore fruit in the passage of "An act to establish the Home Department," to be called the Department of the Interior, with jurisdiction over the Commissioner of the General Land Office, Patents, Indian Affairs, and Public Buildings in Washington; also over officers of the census, accounts of marshals, clerks, and other officers of the United States courts; over the lead and other mines of the United States; and over the warden and inspectors of the District of Columbia penitentiary.

The Secretary in his first annual report recommended the organization of a separate Bureau of Agriculture and the construction of a highway or railroad to the Pacific.

1 R. S. § 442 (Comp. St. § 682).

2 Act June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. 738); Act Aug. 26, 1912 (37 Stat. 605 [Comp. St. § 3382]); Act May 16, 1918 (40 Stat. 550 [Comp. St. 1918, Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, §§ 3115%a to 3115%h]).

3 Executive Orders of July 22, 1919, March 24, 1920, and June 16, 1920.

4 Executive Order of September 13, 1923.

5 Act March 2, 1919, § 5 (40 Stat. 1274 [Comp. St. Ann. Supp. 1919, § 311514/15е]).

6 Act March 3, 1849 (9 Stat. 395).