Cite as: 516 U. S. 417 (1996)
Opinion of the Court
(1941). Congress created the Claims Court 5 to permit "a special and limited class of cases" to proceed against the United States, Tennessee v. Sneed, 96 U. S. 69, 75 (1878), and the court "can take cognizance only of those [claims] which by the terms of some act of Congress are committed to it," Thurston v. United States, 232 U. S. 469, 476 (1914); United States v. Sherwood, supra, at 586-589. The Tucker Act confers upon the court jurisdiction to hear and determine, inter alia, claims against the United States founded upon any "express or implied" contract with the United States. 28 U. S. C. § 1491(a). We have repeatedly held that this jurisdiction extends only to contracts either express or implied in fact, and not to claims on contracts implied in law. Sutton v. United States, 256 U. S. 575, 581 (1921); Merritt v. United States, 267 U. S. 338, 341 (1925); United States v. Minnesota Mut. Investment Co., 271 U. S. 212, 217 (1926); United States v. Mitchell, 463 U. S. 206, 218 (1983). Each material term or contractual obligation, as well as the contract as a whole, is subject to this jurisdictional limitation. See, e. g., Sutton, supra, at 580-581 (refusing to recognize an implied agreement to pay the fair value of work performed because the term was not "express or implied in fact" in the Government contract for dredging services); Lopez v. A. C. & S., Inc., 858 F. 2d 712, 714-715, 716 (CA Fed. 1988) (a Spearin warranty within an asbestos contract must be implied in fact).
The distinction between "implied in fact" and "implied in law," and the consequent limitation, is well established in
5 Under the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982, the newly created Claims Court inherited substantially all of the trial court jurisdiction of the Court of Claims. 96 Stat. 25. In 1992, Congress changed the title of the Claims Court and it is now the United States Court of Federal Claims. Federal Courts Administration Act of 1992, 106 Stat. 4506. Because the most recent change went into effect after that court rendered its decision in this case, we shall refer to it as the Claims Court throughout this opinion.
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