Leases, like deeds or other written instruments, must receive a reasonable construction, as derived from the language employed, without the aid of extrinsic evidence beyond what may be necessary to identify the premises and to disclose the circumstances surrounding the transaction when the instrument was executed. Quackenboss v. Lansing, 6 Johns. (N. Y.) 49; Taylor, Landlord and Tenant, sect. 160, note.
Sufficient appears from the findings of the court below to show that, on the 6th of June, 1873, an indenture of lease was executed by the appellant to the United States, whereby the former, in consideration of the rents, covenants, and agreements in the instrument specified, demised and leased to the United States the premises described in the petition for the term of three years from and after June 5, 1873, with the privileges to the lessees of a renewal of the term for the further period of two years, at and for the annual rent, during the said term and subsequent renewal thereof, of $4,200, payable quarterly on the days specified in the indenture of lease exhibited in the record.
Both sides concede what the lease and record show, that the premises were leased by the United States for the convenience of the Post-Office Department, and that the Postmaster-General took immediate possession of the same, and that the premises have ever since been used for the purposes of his department.
Four other findings of the court below should be noticed in this connection: 1. That the lessor sold and conveyed the premises to Alexander R. Shepherd and assigned the lease to him, and that he, the assignee, conveyed and assigned the same to the other persons named in the petition. 2. That the premises were used by the United States for the purposes mentioned for the whole period alleged. 3. That the holders of the lease have been paid the whole rent, except for the last year, for which they have been paid nothing. 4. Adequate appropriations were made by Congress authorizing the payments which have been made, but Congress refused to appropriate more than $1,800 for the last year.
Pursuant to those findings, the court below held that the plaintiffs could only recover the sum appropriated, and rendered judgment in their favor for that amount, from which judgment the plaintiffs appealed to this court. Since the appeal was entered here, the appellants assign for error that the court below erred in the construction given to the indenture of lease, and to the two acts of Congress referred to in the findings of fact.
Due appropriation of the sum of $1,800 was made by Congress to pay the rental for the last year; and the court below rendered judgment in favor of the appellants for that sum, which exhausts the appropriation made by Congress for that purpose, the only question for decision being whether the appellants can recover in this case the balance of their claim which has never been appropriated by Congress.
Moneys not appropriated cannot be drawn from the treasury; and it is equally clear that the parties, by the terms of the lease, understood and agreed with each other that the lease was made subject to an appropriation by Congress for the payment of the stipulated rental, and 'that no payment shall be made' to the lessor 'on account of such rental until such an appropriation shall become available;' that as soon as practicable after such an appropriation shall become available, the arrears of rent then due shall be paid in full, and that payment thereafter shall be made at the times and in the manner stipulated in the indenture of lease.
Prior to that time, Congress had enacted that it shall not be lawful for any department of the government to expend in any one fiscal year any sum in excess of the appropriation made by Congress for that fiscal year, or to involve the government in any contract for the future payment of money in excess of such appropriation; and both parties concur in the proposition that that provision was in full force and operation at the time the indenture of lease under consideration was executed. 16 Stat. 231; Rev. Stat., sect. 3679.
Such contracts or purchases for the future were forbidden by the act of the 2d of March, 1861, unless the same were authorized by law or were made under an appropriation adequate to their fulfilment, except for clothing, subsistence, forage, fuel, quarters, or transportation, in the War or Navy Department; nor could those departments make any such contracts, even for those purposes, beyond the necessities of the current year. 12 Stat. 220; Rev. Stat., sect. 3732.