Definition
The Tucker Act refers to a federal statute, originally enacted on March 3, 1887, that defines and limits the jurisdiction of the United States Court of Federal Claims (historically the Court of Claims) to hear certain monetary claims against the federal government. It is the foundational waiver of sovereign immunity for contract, constitutional takings, and certain statutory claims seeking money damages from the United States.
The Act accomplishes two distinct functions that researchers must keep separate:
1. WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY: The Tucker Act waives the federal government's sovereign immunity for claims (1) founded upon the Constitution, (2) founded upon an Act of Congress or executive regulation, or (3) founded in contract, express or implied, with the United States — so long as the claim is for money damages not exceeding a specific jurisdictional threshold (for district courts) or unlimited in amount (for the Court of Federal Claims).
2. JURISDICTIONAL GRANT: The Act grants the Court of Federal Claims exclusive jurisdiction over money claims against the United States exceeding $10,000, while the Little Tucker Act (28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2)) grants concurrent jurisdiction to federal district courts for claims of $10,000 or less.
A critical limitation: the Tucker Act is a jurisdictional vehicle only. It does not, by itself, create a cause of action or a right to money damages. The claimant must identify a separate, money-mandating source of law — a constitutional provision, statute, regulation, or contract — that independently grants the substantive right being asserted. Without a money-mandating source, Tucker Act jurisdiction does not attach.
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Common Confusion
The Tucker Act is frequently confused with two related concepts:
TUCKER ACT vs. LITTLE TUCKER ACT: The "Little Tucker Act" (the colloquial name for 28 U.S.C. § 1346(a)(2)) is the companion provision that allows smaller claims (at or under $10,000) to be brought in federal district court rather than the Court of Federal Claims. Researchers using historical sources will not find the "Little Tucker Act" named as such — the distinction emerged through subsequent statutory revision and judicial interpretation.
TUCKER ACT vs. TAKINGS CLAUSE CLAIMS: While Tucker Act jurisdiction covers Fifth Amendment takings claims for just compensation, the Act itself does not create the right to compensation — the Takings Clause does. The Act merely provides the forum and waives immunity. This distinction matters enormously when tracing the money-mandating source in any given claim.
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Why It Matters in Research
The Tucker Act sits at the intersection of federal jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and constitutional takings law, making it a recurring touchstone across a wide range of federal claims research.
JURISDICTIONAL TRAPS: Historical sources — including Bouvier's — treat the Tucker Act primarily as a jurisdictional statute for the Court of Claims without addressing the money-mandating requirement. That doctrine is a product of twentieth-century judicial elaboration, not the text of the 1887 Act itself. Researchers relying on older secondary sources will find the jurisdictional analysis incomplete.
FORUM CHANGES: The Court of Claims was reorganized and reconstituted as the United States Court of Federal Claims by the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982. Sources predating 1982 refer to the "Court of Claims" where modern sources say "Court of Federal Claims." These are not the same institutional animal, even though the Tucker Act jurisdiction carried forward. Cross-referencing these two names is essential when tracing case law across historical periods.
STATUTORY CODIFICATION: The Tucker Act as originally enacted in 1887 has been codified, amended, and reorganized. Modern researchers work with 28 U.S.C. §§ 1346 and 1491, not the original 1887 text. Bouvier's cross-reference to "Garl. & Ralston, Fed. Pr. 413" reflects the pre-codification world and should be treated as a historical snapshot only.
CORPUS CONNECTIONS: Tucker Act research inevitably connects to sovereign immunity doctrine broadly, Fifth Amendment regulatory takings, government contract disputes, and the scope of implied-in-fact contracts with the United States. Any research thread in the Court of Federal Claims corpus will return to this statute.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Bouvier's Law Dictionary offers a characteristically sparse entry: the Tucker Act is identified as "the act of March 3, 1887, relating to the jurisdiction of the court of claims," with a cross-reference to Garland and Ralston's Federal Practice and a direction to see "United States Courts." This is consistent with Bouvier's general treatment of federal procedural and jurisdictional statutes — identification and cross-reference rather than substantive analysis.
What Bouvier's does not address is the transformative significance of the 1887 Act relative to prior federal practice. Before the Tucker Act, the Court of Claims had more limited jurisdiction and claimants faced significant barriers to suing the United States. The 1887 Act substantially expanded the court's reach, consolidated earlier jurisdictional patchwork, and established the framework that twentieth-century courts would build into the modern Tucker Act doctrine. Historical dictionaries treat the statute as a jurisdictional housekeeping measure; its constitutional and doctrinal dimensions are a later development invisible to those sources.
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Jurisdictional Note
Tucker Act jurisdiction is exclusively federal. The statute applies only to claims against the United States government, not against states or private parties. Jurisdictional amount governs the choice of forum between the Court of Federal Claims (over $10,000) and federal district courts under the Little Tucker Act (at or under $10,000), but subject matter requirements — including the money-mandating source rule — apply in both venues.
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Encyclopedia Cross-Reference
See Law Mind Encyclopedia: Court of Claims; Federal Sovereign Immunity; Jurisdiction of Federal Courts; Government Contracts; Takings Clause.
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