United States ex rel. Dunlap v. Black, Commissioner of Pensions

Headnotes

1. Administrative Law — Mandamus to Executive Officers Courts will not interfere by mandamus with executive officers of the government in the exercise of their ordinary official duties, even where those duties require an interpretation of the law, because no appellate power is given to the courts for that purpose.
2. Administrative Law — Mandamus to Compel Ministerial Acts Mandamus lies to compel an executive officer to perform his duty where he refuses to act at all in a case in which the law requires him to act, or where a purely ministerial duty is imposed upon him — that is, a service he is bound to perform without further question.
3. Administrative Law — Review of Commissioner of Pensions' Decisions Where the Commissioner of Pensions receives a pensioner's application for an increase of pension, considers the evidence, and decides adversely to the petitioner, he performs the executive act the law requires; the courts have no appellate power over him in this respect and no right to review his decision.
4. Administrative Law — Obedience to Supervisory Authority Where the Commissioner of Pensions decides adversely to a pensioner's application for an increase of pension and his decision is overruled by the Secretary of the Interior on the ground that the applicant falls within the law granting the increase, and the Commissioner refuses to carry out the decision of his superior, the pensioner is entitled to a rule upon the Commissioner to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not issue to compel him to obey the Secretary's decision.