Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

Knight et al. v. Schell.

that Congress intended to include, in the words one in ten of the packages, the covering of the importation, if belonging to the merchant, as well as the contents within it. Confirmation of these views, if any be needed, may be found in the almost unbroken practice of the Treasury Department. Take, for example, the Treasury circular of the twenty-sixth of November, 1846, and it will be found that it fully justifies the conclusion to which we have come.

By that circular the several collectors were informed that"The principle upon which the appraisement is based is this: That the actual value of articles on shipboard at the last place of shipment to the United States, including all preceding expenses, duties, costs, charges, and transportation, is the foreign value upon which the duty is to be assessed. The costs and charges that are to be embraced in fixing the valuation, over and above the value of the article at the place of growth, production, or manufacture, are―

"The transportation, shipment, and transhipment, with all the expenses included, from the place of growth, production, or manufacture, whether by land or water carriage, to the vessel in which shipment is made to the United States. Included in these estimates is the value of the sack, package, box, crate, hogshead, barrel, bale, cask, can, and covering of all kinds, bottles, jars, vessels, and demijohns." Mayo Comp., 350, 351.

Casks, including barrels, as well as hogsheads, exported from the United States empty, and returned filled, have almost invariably, since the passage of the tariff act of the twentieth of July, 1846, been included among the dutiable charges, although of American manufacture, on the ground that, when so filled and brought back, they were not in the same condition as when exported, within the meaning of the provision of that act. Mayo Comp., 407. That construction has been affirmed by the Treasury Department, since the passage of the appraisement act of the third of March, 1851, as will appear by reference to the Treasury circular adopted shortly after its passage. By that circular the Department declares that—

Knight et al. v. Schell.

"The law enjoins that there shall be added 'all costs and charges, except insurance, and including, in every case, a charge for commissions at the usual rates.' These charges are as follows, to wit:

"They must include 'purchasing, carriages, dyeing, bleaching, dressing, finishing, putting up, and packing,' together with the value of the sack, package, box, crate, hogshead, barrel, bale, cask, can, and covering of all kinds, bottles, jars, vessels, and demijohns."

Without pursuing the discussion further, suffice it to say, that we are all of the opinion that the question under consideration must be answered in the negative, and we accordingly direct that it be certified to the court below, as the opinion of this court, that barrels manufactured in the United States, and exported empty to Cuba, and afterwards brought back to the United States filled with molasses purchased in Cuba, were not brought back "in the same condition as when exported," within the true intent and meaning of the acts of Congress in that behalf.

ORDER.

This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record from the Circuit Court of the United States for the southern district of New York, and on the point or question upon which the judges of the said Circuit Court were opposed in opinion, and which was certified to this court for its opinion, agreeably to the act of Congress in such case made and provided, and was argued by counsel. On consideration whereof, it is the opinion of this court that barrels manufactured in the United States, and exported empty to Cuba, and afterwards brought back to the United States filled with molasses purchased in Cuba, are not brought back in the same condition as when exported, according to the true intent and meaning of the acts of Congress in that behalf. Therefore it is now here ordered by the court that it be so certified to the said Circuit Court.

Belcher et al. v. Linn.

WILLIAM H. BELCHER AND CHARLES BELCHER, PLAINTIFFS IN ERROR, v. WILLIAM A. LINN.

The decision in the preceding case, with respect to the duty upon barrels when made in the United States, and brought back from Cuba filled with molasses, again affirmed.

THIS case was brought up by writ of error from the Circuit Court of the United States for the district of Missouri.

It was a part of the case between the same parties reported two cases back, and was argued by the same counsel who argued that case.

Mr. Justice CLIFFORD delivered the opinion of the court. This is a writ of error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the district of Missouri. The suit in the court below was brought by the present plaintiffs against the defendant as the surveyor and acting collector of the customs at St. Louis, to recover the amount of certain duties alleged to have been illegally exacted of the plaintiff, and paid by him to the defendant under protest. As alleged in the declaration, the duties were assessed on the value of a large number of barrels, manufactured by the plaintiffs in the United States, exported empty to Matanzas, in the island of Cuba, and brought back in 1853, filled with concentrated molasses or sugar. It was an action of assumpsit, and the declaration contained the usual counts for money had and received, together with a special count detailing all the circumstances on which the claim was founded. Defendant appeared, and the parties went to trial upon the general issue. At the close of the evidence, five prayers for instructions to the jury were presented by the plaintiffs, but the court refused to give any one of them; and at the request of the defendant, instructed the jury that on the whole evidence in the case the plaintiff's could not recover against the defendant. Whereupon the jury returned their verdict in favor of the defendant, and the plaintiffs excepted, and sued out this writ of error to reverse

Belcher et al. v. Linn.

the judgment rendered on the verdict. Under the circumstances of this case, as exhibited in the transcript, it will not be necessary to refer with much particularity to the evidence, as the sole question raised in the record is, whether the duties imposed upon the barrels by the appraisers were lawfully exacted. Satisfactory proof was introduced by the plaintiffs, showing that all the barrels were manufactured by the plaintiffs in the United States, and that they were exported empty to the foreign market, and there filled with concentrated molasses, or sugar in a green state, which was destined for the market of St. Louis. One of the plaintiffs' witnesses testified that the barrels, when they were received at the sugar-boiling factory of the plaintiffs in Matanzas, were empty, but when sent from thence to the United States, they were filled with the different products of that establishment. Such of the barrels as were designated to receive molasses were filled at the bung without being unheaded, but it was necessary to take out one head from those which were to be filled with concentrated molasses, and all such of course had to be recoopered. And the same witness states, that in some instances it was necessary, after the barrels were placed in the sugar-boiling factory, to add new hoops, but in all other respects the barrels were filled and sent back in the same condition in which they were received. Unless the barrels were brought back in the same condition in which they were when exported, then it is clear that they could not be admitted to entry free of duty; and so, if the value of the barrel in which a dutiable article or product is imported is one of the proper charges which are required by law to be added to the actual market value or wholesale price of the importation, then it is equally clear that the same conclusion must follow. In the case of James Knight and others v. Augustus Schell, decided at the present term, both of those questions were determined against the plaintiffs in this suit. That case was determined upon full consideration, and we are all satisfied that the decision of the question was correct, and that the reasons given for the decision are all applicable to this case, and therefore they need not be repeated. It is impossible to hold that mo

Belcher et al. v. Linn.

lasses barrels, manufactured here and exported to a foreign port, and there filled with molasses, whether it be the ordinary article or that denominated concentrated, and then reimported with their contents to this country, were brought back in the same condition as when exported, within the true intent and meaning of the acts of Congress. Contrary to the views of the plaintiffs, we think the words, "the same condition," mean not only that the identity of the article exported is preserved, but that its utility for its original purpose is unchanged. On this point, we adopt the view taken by the defendant, because it appears to be more consonant with the language of the provision under consideration, and with the obvious intent of Congress in passing it. Suppose it be so; then it almost necessarily follows, even within the principle assumed by the plaintiffs, that barrels filled with molasses and imported here formed a part of the charges of importation. They admit that such is the general rule, but seek to establish an exception which would include the present case. Now, unless the barrels were brought back in the same condition as when exported, then the reason on which the supposed exception is founded fails; and it is difficult to see why the present case does not fall within the admitted general rule. Outside packages belonging to the merchant were required to be estimated and their value added to the actual cost of importation at a very early period; and without referring to the subsequent acts of Congress and the regulations of the Department, which were cited in the briefs of the counsel, the better opinion is, we think, that charges include in general the value of the sack, package, box, crate, barrel, hogshead, bale, cask, all outside coverings belonging to the merchant, or, so to speak, the integument of the importation, and that the value of the same, to be estimated at the usual cost to the importer, should properly be added to the actual market value or wholesale price of the importation, in order to ascertain the true basis on which to assess the duty. For these reasons we are of the opinion that the rulings and instruction of the Circuit Court were correct, and the judgment is accordingly affirmed, with

costs.

« AnteriorContinuar »