Gladys Laycock v. United States

This is an appeal from an order dismissing appellant’s action for damages alleged to have been sustained as a proximate result of enforcement of the statutes and regulations relating to the sale of gold. [See: Gold Reserve Act of 1934, 48 Stat. 337 , 31 U.S.C.A. § 440 ; 12 U.S.C.A. §§ 95a, 213; Executive Order 6260, as amended 12 U.S.C.A. following § 95a; United States Treasury Department Gold Regulations, 31 CFR, Part 54, §§ 54.1-55.2, 19 F.R. 4309 -4316 (1954).]

Stated in summary, the allegations of appellant’s complaint are: that she is a substantial owner of certain patented lode mining claims in Grant County, Oregon; that “in the past said mine has been greatly developed and large quantities of gold have been extracted therefrom”; that “at present approximately 243,000 tons of ore are blocked out therein, but said ore cannot be economically processed at the present arbitrary price set for gold”; that the Government has fixed “an arbitrary and artificial price of 35 irredeemable and inconvertible paper dollars per troy ounce of fine gold as the authorized price for the purchase and sale of gold”; that “in the free markets of the world the price of fine gold has been and now…