
From the U.S. Code Online via GPO Access
[wais.access.gpo.gov]
[Laws in effect as of January 2, 2001]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
  January 2, 2001 and January 28, 2002]
[CITE: 10USC5137]

 
                         TITLE 10--ARMED FORCES
 
                    Subtitle C--Navy and Marine Corps
 
                          PART I--ORGANIZATION
 
       CHAPTER 513--BUREAUS; OFFICE OF THE JUDGE ADVOCATE GENERAL
 
Sec. 5137. Bureau of Medicine and Surgery: Chief; Deputy Chief

    (a) The Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery shall be 
appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the 
Senate, for a term of four years, from officers on the active-duty list 
of the Navy in any corps of the Navy Medical Department. He has the 
title of Surgeon General. The Surgeon General, while so serving has the 
grade of vice admiral.
    (b) An officer on the active-duty list of the Navy who is qualified 
to be the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery may be detailed as 
Deputy Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

(Aug. 10, 1956, ch. 1041, 70A Stat. 286; Pub. L. 89-288, Sec. 4, Oct. 
22, 1965, 79 Stat. 1050; Pub. L. 96-513, title V, Sec. 503(10), Dec. 12, 
1980, 94 Stat. 2912; Pub. L. 104-106, div. A, title V, Sec. 506(b), Feb. 
10, 1996, 110 Stat. 296.)

                                          Historical and Revision Notes
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
            Revised section                      Source (U.S. Code)            
   Source (Statutes at Large)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------
5137(a)...............................  5 U.S.C. 432.                        R.
S. 421.
                                        5 U.S.C. 438.                        R.
S. 426.
                                        5 U.S.C. 440 (less applicability to  R.
S. 1471 (less applicability to
                                         Paymaster General).                  P
aymaster General); June 20, 1940,
                                                                              c
h. 400, Sec.  1(a), 54 Stat. 492.
5137(b)...............................  5 U.S.C. 451 (less last 10 words).   R.
S. 1375 (less last 10 words);
                                                                              F
eb. 27, 1877, ch. 69, Sec.  1, 19
                                                                              S
tat. 244.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------

    In subsection (a) the words ``from officers on the active list of 
the Navy in the Medical Corps'' are substituted for the words ``from the 
list of Surgeons of the Navy'' to conform to present statutory 
terminology, and the words ``or from officers having the rank of captain 
in the staff corps of the Navy'' are omitted as obsolete in view of the 
subsequent changes in staff corps grades and the establishment of grades 
and ranks higher than captain in the staff corps. R.S. 421 and 426 were 
derived from the Act of July 5, 1862, ch. 134, 12 Stat. 510, and the Act 
of Mar. 3, 1871, ch. 117, Sec. 10, 16 Stat. 537. The Act of July 5, 
1862, provided that the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery 
should be appointed from the list of surgeons in the Navy. At that time 
the senior medical officers were ``surgeons'' who ``ranked with'' 
commanders. Next junior to them were ``surgeons'' who ``ranked with'' 
lieutenants. The rank of lieutenant commander did not exist. The Act of 
Mar. 3, 1871, established five grades in the Medical Corps of which two, 
medical director and medical inspector, were higher than the grade of 
surgeon. Medical directors were given the relative rank of captain, 
medical inspectors the relative rank of commander, and surgeons the 
relative rank of lieutenant commander or lieutenant. The 1871 Act 
further provided that chiefs of bureaus might be appointed from officers 
having the relative rank of captain in the staff corps. This provision 
was probably intended to insure that the assignment of new grades and 
titles to senior staff corps officers should not be construed as a bar 
to their appointment as bureau chiefs. However, it was interpreted by 
the Commissioners who drafted the Revised Statutes as setting up a new 
category of officers from which bureau chiefs could be appointed, and it 
was therefore stated, in R.S. 421, as an alternative to each of the 
other categories specified for the various Bureaus in the 1862 Act and 
reenacted in R.S. 422-426. Thus the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and 
Surgery could be appointed from surgeons, who had the relative rank of 
lieutenant commander or lieutenant in the Medical Corps, or from 
officers having the relative rank of captain in the Medical Corps, Pay 
Corps, or Engineer Corps. Section 405 of the Officer Personnel Act of 
1947 (34 U.S.C. 10a) abolished the grade of surgeon and other staff 
corps grades and replaced them with grades having the same titles as the 
grades and ranks in the line. Officers who were ``surgeons'' are now 
``lieutenant commanders and lieutenants in the Medical Corps.'' If this 
literal translation is made in R.S. 426 and the eligibility of all staff 
corps captains, as stated in R.S. 421, is retained, an absurd result is 
reached; i.e., lieutenants, lieutenant commanders, and captains in the 
Medical Corps are eligible for appointment as Chief of the Bureau of 
Medicine and Surgery; but commanders and rear admirals in that corps are 
ineligible; captains, but not rear admirals, in other staff corps are 
eligible by virtue of their rank alone, regardless of their lack of 
training in medicine. It appears, therefore, that the only reasonable 
meaning that can be given to R.S. 421 and 426 at the present time is 
that the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery must be an officer 
of the Medical Corps.
    In subsection (b) the words ``Deputy Chief of the Bureau'' are 
substituted for the words ``assistant to the Bureau'' for uniformity. 
The words ``An officer on the active list of the Navy in the Medical 
Corps'' are substituted for the words ``A surgeon, assistant surgeon, or 
passed assistant surgeon'' to conform to present statutory terminology 
and to describe clearly the class of officers eligible for detail under 
this subsection. When the source statute was enacted there was no class 
of officers exactly corresponding to officers of the present Naval 
Reserve, and retired officers could be called to active duty only in 
time of war, so that the detailing of an officer not on the active list 
as assistant to the bureau chief was probably not contemplated. Further, 
since the assistant or deputy must at times perform the duties of the 
chief, it is reasonable to assume that he was intended to be in the same 
category of officers. Later statutes relating to the Assistant Chiefs of 
the Bureau of Aeronautics and the Bureau of Ships, enacted at a time 
when there were Reserve officers and when retired officers could be 
called to duty at any time with their consent, specify that the 
assistant chiefs shall be officers on the active list.


                               Amendments

    1996--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 506(b)(1), substituted ``in 
any corps of the Navy Medical Department'' for ``in the Medical Corps''.
    Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 104-106, Sec. 506(b)(2), substituted ``who is 
qualified to be the Chief of the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery'' for 
``in the Medical Corps''.
    1980--Pub. L. 96-513 substituted ``active-duty list'' for ``active 
list'' wherever appearing.
    1965--Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 89-288 provided the Surgeon General, 
while so serving, with the grade of vice admiral.


                    Effective Date of 1980 Amendment

    Amendment by Pub. L. 96-513 effective Sept. 15, 1981, see section 
701 of Pub. L. 96-513, set out as a note under section 101 of this 
title.

                  Section Referred to in Other Sections

    This section is referred to in section 5133 of this title.
