An impression has existed that a peculiar `force of law* is given to regulations by their approval by Congress, but it seems to be an erroneous one. If, as above stated, the making of regulations is within the jurisdiction both of Congress and the President, but the author ity of Congress is superior to that of the Presi dent, it follows that when regulations are ap proved by Congress they cannot be altered by him until the approval is removed. To this ex tent, regulations approved by Congress may be said to have a superior force of law to those not thus approved, but this is not the erroneous impression referred to. Precisely what it is, is not clear, but it seems to have been believed that the approval of regulations by Congress makes them of higher obligation. This, how ever, is not true. Whether approved by Con gress or not, they have, so long and so far as they are in force, the force of law, and are, therefore, binding. The distinction, in this respect that has sometimes been made between regulations approved by Congress and those not thus approved is misleading. Congress has, on several occasions, given its sanction to army regulations: 1. An Act of 3 March 1813, provided, °That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of the War Department, and he is hereby authorized, to prepare general regulations, better defining and prescribing the respective duties and powers of the several officers in the adjutant-general, inspector-general, quartermaster-general and commissary or ordnance departments, of the topographical engineers, of the aids of gen erals, and generally of the general and regi mental staff ; which regulations, when ap proved by the President of the United States, shall be respected and obeyed, until altered or revoked by the same authority. And the said general regulations, thus prepared and ap proved, shall be laid before Congress at their next session.* A system of regulations was laid before Congress as required by the act. It was pub lished (together with the statutes relating to the military establishment) in book form, from the adjutant and inspector-general's office, 1 May 1813, and may also be found in volume I of the State Papers on Military Affairs.' 2. By Act of 24 April 1816, it was pre scribed °that the regulations in force before the reduction of the army be recognized, as far as the same shall be found applicable to the service, subject, however, to such altera tions as the Secretary of War may adopt, with the approbation of the President.' The reduc .tion referred to was made in June 1815, pur suant to an Act of 3 March. The Act of 24 April 1816, did not relate to any particular code of army regulations, but to all the regulations which were in force.
3. On 22 Dec. 1819, the House of Repre sentatives resolved that "the Secretary of War be instructed to cause to be prepared and laid before this House, at the next session of Con gress, a system of martial law, and a system of field service and police, for the government of the Army of the United States.' On 22 Dec. 1820, the Secretary of War accordingly submitted a system of *martial law," prepared by Judge-Advocate Major Storrow (which was never adopted), and a system of field service and police, which had been pre pared by General Scott, and submitted to the War Department in September 1818.
On 26 Dec. 1820, the Speaker laid them be fore the House. 'The document was in manu script, and was ordered to be printed, and a copy laid upon the desk of each member. (It
is reprinted in the third volume of the State Papers on Military Affairs.) When the book was printed, several copies were sent to Gen eral Scott, who made certain corrections, and on 20 Feb. 1821, returned a copy (of which he retained a duplicate) to the War Department for the Committee of the House. It was re ceived by the chairman of the Military Com mittee on 23 Feb 1821.
On 27 Feb. 1821, the chairman of the Mili tary Committee of the House reported the Senate bill, °To reduce and fix the military peace establishment," with certain amendments, among which was the addition of a section ap proving and adopting "the system of General Regulations for the Army, compiled by Major General Scott.' The bill, including this (the 14th) section, became law 2 March 1821. Early in that month, General Scott received directions to put the book to press for the use of the army, and, having received a letter from the chairman of the Military Committee of the House, in forming him that the corrected copy had been received, and section 14 added to the army bill by way of amendment, he caused the book to be reprinted from his retained duplicate corrected copy.
4. By an Act of Congress of 28 July 1866, the Secretary of War was directed to have pre pared, and to report to Congress, at its next session, a code of regulations for the govern ment of the army and of the militia in actual service, including rules for the government of courts-martial, the existing regulations (those of 1863) to remain in force until Congress should have acted on such report.
It was said by the Court of Claims, and repeated by Attorney-General Brewster, that under the act of 1866 a report of a code of regulations for the government of the army was made but not acted on. This was evidently a mistake. A system of regulations was pre pared by a board consisting of Generals Sher man, Sheridan and Augur, but it does not ap pear to have been submitted to Congress. A revision of the articles of war was reported, but not, it would seem, a code of regulations.
The act of 1866 was construed by the Court of Claims, the Attorney-General, the second comptroller, and Secretary of War Belknap, to have had the effect of an adoption by Congress of the regulations of 1863, but there has been little agreement as to how long the regulations so adopted remained in force. The legislation has sometimes been regarded as repealed by the repeal provisions (section 5596) of the Revised Statutes, if not already superseded by the act of 15 July 1870, which again provided for the preparation of a system of regulations, to be reported to Congress gat its next session.' It has also been held that the regulations of 1863 remained in force, by virtue of the legislation of 1866, until superseded by the regulations of 1881 issued under the act of 23 July 1879, au thorizing the Secretary of War to cause all the regulations of the army and general orders then in force to be codified and published. And they have been treated as in force subsequently to this.
After this no revision of the regulations ap pears to have been undertaken until December when a board was appointed "for the purpose of revising and condensing the regula tions of the arm and preparing a new edition of the same.' The work of this board finally took the form of the regulations of 1889.