United States Court of Claims

The United States Court of Claims was a federal court that heard lawsuits seeking money from the United States government. It was established in 1855, at first to deal with claims by veterans of the Mexican-American War, after the volume of petitions to Congress had become unmanageable, and it was given jurisdiction over monetary claims based on a law, a regulation or a federal contract. The Tucker Act of 1887 widened its reach to claims founded on the Constitution, including takings claims and tax refund suits. The court began with three judges and had seven by the end. In Williams v. United States in 1933 the Supreme Court treated it as a legislative Article I court, and a law of 1953 later raised it to Article III status. Congress abolished it in 1982, moving its trial jurisdiction to the Claims Court and its appellate work to the Federal Circuit.