Talcott

The Act of March 8th, 1878, provides that the State Board of Harbor Commissioners “ are authorized to adjust, audit, and pay, out of the Harbor Improvement Fund,” such amount as Talcott and Onderdonk may equitably be entitled to, for certain work and materials mentioned in the act. It is not expressly stated in the agreed case that the Board had adjusted and audited the claim, nor that it had refused so to do, but it is claimed that the extract from the proceedings of the Board (whereby it appears that upon a vote being taken for the payment of the bill of the claimants, two of the members of the Board voted aye, and one member no) shows by implication that the Board had audited and adjusted the claim in the full amount of the bill. If that be the true construction to be given to those proceedings, the only remaining thing to be done is to pay the amount of the bill as audited. On behalf of the plaintiffs it is claimed that the amount is to be paid out of the funds in the hands of the Board, and the defendant contends that the payment is to be made out of the Harbor Improvement Fund in the State Treasury.

It may safely be laid down as a rule of statutory construction, that where…