5. Under section 4704, Revised Statutes.

Acknowledgment by the father and the subsequent mar riage of the parents of illegitimate children are the criterions of their legitimacy under section 4704, Revised Statutes. Neither the soldier's quondam mistress, whom he never married, nor her children begotten, but never acknowledged, by him, have any status that the Department can recognize for pensionable purposes. Nancy Baker (Asst. Sec. Hawkins), 1 P. D., 462.

Under section 4704, Revised Statutes, marriage of the parents of a child born out of wedlock, as well as acknowledgment by the father, must follow in order to make such child legitimate for pensionable purposes. Adhering to former decision herein of 4 P. D. (o. s.), 474. Minor of Michael Harmon (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 4 P. D., 132.

Questions of legitimacy are governed by section 4704, Revised Statutes, and not by the lex loci, and the fact that under the laws as to descent and distribution of property of the State where the child resides at the time of filing the claim it would be recognized as its father's heir, although its parents were never married, has no bearing upon the question of its legitimacy arising in its pension claim. Emma Gierhart (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 6 P. D., 155.

See also EVIDENCE; ILLEGITIMACY; MINORS.

1. Generally.

The power conferred upon the Secretary of the Navy to establish rules and regulations for the examination and adjudication of claims for admission upon the roll does not authorize the enactment of a rule or statute of limitations. Atty. Gen. Toucey, 5 Op., 62.

Certificate having issued March 17, 1870, subsequent to the death of the pensioner named therein, certificate was canceled by the Secretary, who stated that the limitation as to filing claim begins at the death of the soldier leaving no widow, child, or mother. Elisha Chick (Sec. Cox), 7 L. B. P., 284.

There is no authority of law for deducting from the period of limitation prescribed in section 6 of the act of July 27, 1868, a term of civil and military service subsequent to the first discharge. William L. Smith (Sec. Delano), 7 L. B. P., 369.

The period of limitation runs from, but does not include, the date of discharge or death, under the Attorney-General's opinion that "when the computation of time is to commence from an act done, the day on which the act is done is to be excluded." William Millar (Actg. Sec. Cowen), 2 P. D. (o. s.), 146.

Section 13 of the act of June 6, 1866, reenacted in section 4713, Revised Statutes, did not deprive this claimant of any right previously existing, as his pension was allowed under acts relating to the military establishment of the United States, and the regulations of the President, made in accordance with law, commenced the pension of an invalid under those acts at the date at which the claim was established. Rowland A. Colby (Actg. Sec. Gorham), 3 P. D. (o. s.), 483.

2. Generally as to filing declarations.

The rule of the Pension Office that an application for a pension can not be entertained after the lapse of twenty-five years from the time when the disability was incurred is unauthorized by law and therefore invalid. Atty. Gen. Toucey, 5 Op., 62.

The proviso in section 4714, Revised Statutes, that any declaration made before an officer authorized to administer oaths for general purposes shall be accepted to exempt a claim from the limitation as to date of filing prescribed in section 4709, is applicable to the limitation prescribed by section 2 of the act of March 3, 1879, as to date of filing claim, and a declaration made in accordance therewith may be accepted to exempt a claim from such limitation. Atty. Gen. Brewster, 17 Op., 355.

The negligence of attorneys in filing an application does not relieve the claim from limitation as to the commencement of 13201-20

2. Generally as to filing declarations-Continued.

pension. Sarah H. Stevens (Actg. Sec. Otto), 7 L. B. P., 281. Under the seventh section of the act of March 3, 1873, a claim filed within five years from the date the soldier was finally paid, although discharge was made out prior to that date and more than five years prior to the date of filing such application, entitles to arrears from said date of payment, the records showing that the members of the organization to which he belonged were considered as having been under military authority until that date. Henry Ferguson (Actg. Sec. Cowen), 1 P. D. (o. s.), 279.

Delay in filing a declaration, whether due to the attorney or to claimant, can not affect commencement of the pension, which, by law, can commence only from the time the declaration is filed (if filed more than five years after right accrued). H. W. Smith (Sec. Chandler), 3 P. D. (o. s.), 338.

It appearing from certain correspondence by and with the Commissioner of Pensions, found among the records of the office, that an application for pension was filed in the Pension Office in 1863, within three years of the date of discharge of the soldier, although no such claim or record of any such claim is found: Held, That the evidence is sufficient to show an application was made, which will save the case from the bar of limitation fixed by section 4713, Revised Statutes. Samuel C. Barney (Sec. Teller), 10 P. D. (o. s.), 78.

Failure to file a declaration within the time to avoid the statutory limitation is not excused by alleged delay in the mails. George C. Smith (Asst. Sec. Hawkins), 1 P. D., 69.

3. Ante-rebellion claims.

Claims for pension under ante-rebellion laws, as well as those under the act of July 14, 1862, are subject to the limitation as to date of filing prescribed in section 13 of the act of June 6, 1866. Minor of Bernhard Barr (Sec. Browning), 6 L. B. P., 441.

The limitation act of June 6, 1866, is applicable to the claim of a soldier who, after his discharge in 1849, was employed in a civil capacity, and whose right to pension under the act of May 13, 1846, on account of a disability incurred in his prior service, accrued, therefore, at the date of said discharge. Rowland A. Colby (Sec. Delano), 1 P. D. (o. s.), 89.

4. Fathers' claims.

In claims of fathers the period of limitation under section 6 of the act of July 27, 1868, begins to run June 6, 1866, the date of the passage of the act conferring title upon fathers. George Frazier (Sec. Delano), 8 L. B. P., 154.

5. Increase claims.

Section 4717, Revised Statutes, should not be applied to a claim for increase on account of a disability resulting from the pensioned disability. Joseph B. Sykes (Actg. Sec. Gorham), 3 P. D. (o. s.), 423.

6. Insane persons, claims by.

The proviso of section 6 of the act of July 27, 1868, reenacted as section 15 of the act of March 3, 1873, applies in all cases where the evidence is of the character to justify the presumption that the applicant for pension was prevented by insanity-for a reasonable time-within the term of limitation from making application for and prosecuting a claim for pension. In this case the claimant became insane four months prior to the termination of the period of limitation, and continued insane until nearly four months thereafter. Richard J. Cunningham (Asst. Sec. Cowen), 1 P. D. (o. 8.), 153.

The exception as to minors and insane persons contained in section 4709, Revised Statutes, has no application to claims for pension under anterebellion laws, but the claims of such persons are governed by section 4713, Revised Statutes. Minors of John Enders (Actg. Sec. Cowen), 3 P. D. (o. s.), 32.

While the pension law exempts the claim of an insane person from any limitation as to date of filing, there is no authority of law for allowing a widow pension from the date of her insane husband's discharge if no claim was filed in his behalf during his lifetime. Mary Uhrich (Sec. Teller), 9 P. D. (o. s.), 354.

By the adjudication of this claim (on account of insanity alleged as of service origin), and the grant of a pension for the disability of insanity from the date of filing his application, it was necessarily adjudged and determined that his alleged insanity originated during his military service, existed in a pensionable degree at the date of his discharge, and has continued in a pensionable degree to the present time, and he is therefore included within the limitation act of March 3, 1879, and pension should date from his discharge. Alban G. Stabler, guardian of Edward Campbell, alias Henry Mulholland, insane (Asst. Sec. Hawkins), 2 P. D., 75.

Reconsidered and adhered to. Ibid., 176.

Where insanity is alleged as the basis of a claim for pension, and it has been satisfactorily established that said insanity was incurred in line of military duty or resulted from the military service of the claimant, such claim must be adjudicated, so far as the question of arrears is concerned, without reference to the limitation as to date of filing claim prescribed in

6. Insane persons, claims by-Continued.

the act of March 3, 1879, and pension should commence from the date when a pensionable degree of disability first existed. Affirming Edward Campbell, alias Henry Mulholland, 2 P. D., 75, 176. William Roberts (Asst. Sec. Hawkins), 2 P. D., 350. Citing the case of Ellen Roberts, guardian of William Roberts (2 P. D., 350), it is held that the terms of the proviso contained in section 2 of the act of March 3, 1879, excepting claims by or in behalf of insane persons from the limitation prescribed therein, have the effect of eliminating from said statute said limitation so far as all such claims are concerned; and, therefore when insanity was incurred in the line of duty or by reason of military service, said claim must be adjudicated, so far as the arrears of pension are concerned, without reference to the aforesaid limitation and as if no such limitation had been prescribed. Richard Whiting, insane (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 3 P. D., 105.

Claimant being shown by the testimony of his physician to have been, during the years 1879 and 1880, mentally deranged, with no lucid intervals and unable to attend to any business, he is exempt from the limitation prescribed in the act of March. 3, 1879, as to commencement of pension, whether insanity is alleged as basis for pension or is a result of the disabilities alleged. Alonzo Dyke (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 4 P. D., 121.

The proviso of section 2 of the act of March 3, 1879, that the limitation prescribed in said act as to the date of filing applications for pension "shall not apply to claims by or in behalf of insane persons" is not applicable for purposes of arrears to persons whose insanity has been developed years subsequent to July 1, 1880, and whose application was not filed until, for instance, April 27, 1886. John Young (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 5 P. D., 117.

The limitation period prescribed in the act of March 3, 1879, is not applicable to a claim for arrears of pension filed "by or in behalf of insane persons" if the alleged insanity existed prior to or during said period of limitation. John Vinson (Asst. Sec. Bussey), 5 P. D., 166.

7. Invalid claims.

Where a soldier reenlisted two days after his discharge from his first service and did not file a claim for pension on account of an injury alleged to have been incurred in his first service until more than five years after said discharge, but less than five years after his second discharge, pension must commence from the date claim was completed. John Hyland (Actg. Sec. Cowen), 1 P. D. (o. s.), 21.