Burnett: Couwr or Penrwlvaniu. 207 ad. Whether the plaintiff is entitled to half-pay from the ,79-,, time of hisdifcharge, until the tit of faq, 1783, and intereilz ,,5,Q; thereon from that day ? _ . Thefe quellions have been argued by MeHi·s. Iugerfall, Lew- ix, and Seojearst, fortheplaintiif ; and, by Mellis. Dallas, and Wilmb, for the Commonwealth; they have been conlidered by the Court, and we lhall now deliver our opinions. The anfwer to the Ertl: queliion depends on the conltruéiion _ of a Rgfalve of theGeneral Allbmbly, palfed on the 5th of Decen- ler, 1778, in page 252, of the journals of Ailembly, publilh- . edbyM. Hillegae; which is, •* that all fuch matters, as may “ appear to the Council to be abfolutely necelfary to the comfort “ of the imap: ef tlvir State, be fold to them for one jaurtb part “ the original coils, for caih only, 8tc." And of another Re- jlve of March the 15, 1779, in page 337, which is, •* that to •‘ every ollicer of the faidtraspr, a complete fuit of regimental ¢* uuiformhe furniihed every year by this State, to be charged “ to the ollicer, at ibe price for which the faid uniform might
- • have been purchafed at the commencement of the war, &c."
And, of an af! of Alfembly, patlicd Marci: the xii, 1 780, whereby acomplete fuit of uniform was dire&ed to be given annually to each ollicer grati: during the war. ` Refpeftiug this, there feemsto have been a Legillative con- llzruétiona For, it appears in the journals of the Ailicmbly, page 552 and555, of the 14th and Isth of December, x78o, that the Legillature would not charge the ollicers with the clothes, Src. furnilhed them, at the price. From which it may _ be clearly inferred, the clothes, that had been fumilhed them, . —, were to beppaid for in Carrtinentalbillr of credit only ; and, under ¤ _-`__· ] the fecond refolve before cited, the price was to be regulated
bythe price at the commencement of the war. -
-- .—··` Without the aid of this authority, I {hould have been of o- pinion, that the clo*lpey,—;!urs furnifhed the ollicers, were to have been paid for in tlgeiontinental bills of credit, and that this was theéritention of the then Atlembly : Becaufe, firllz, what- ever might have been their privéte fentiments refpeéling thefe bills being depreciated, they deemed it inexpedient to acknow- _ ledge it in their public cbara8er. Secondly; becaufe, Continental money was then by law equal to fpecie, and it was penal to make a dillinétion between them. And, laltly, becuufe it is manifelt, they intended to be genereus to, or at lealt to re- lieve the known diltrelles of, the ollicers of the State, both in the army and navy. For, by the ‘irlt refolve, the Aifembly elireéted, that the olliccrs fhould bc furnifhed with the articles neccffary for them, at a faurtbpart of the then original coils, for ealh only; and bythe fecond, they were to be furnifhed with a complete (`uit of regimcntal uniform, at the price for which lit ‘ mig .t
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