Arthur Jaffe, Inc. v. United States

25 Cust. Ct. 62, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 12
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedAugust 1, 1950
DocketC. D. 1264
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 25 Cust. Ct. 62 (Arthur Jaffe, Inc. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering United States Customs Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arthur Jaffe, Inc. v. United States, 25 Cust. Ct. 62, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 12 (cusc 1950).

Opinion

Rao, Judge:

The two protests listed above raise the question of the proper classification of an importation of certain lithographic prints. The merchandise in question was classified by the collector of customs at the port of New York as manufactures of paper, not specially provided for, and assessed with duty at the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 1413 of the Tariff Act of 1930. In the protests, the claim was made that the involved articles were dutiable at the rate of 12 cents per pound, as lithographed articles, exceeding twelve and not exceeding twenty one-thousandths of one inch in thickness and more than 35 square inches in cutting size, as provided for in paragraph 1406 of said act. Plaintiff now alleges, however, that as the lithographs are on paper less than twelve one-thousandths of an inch in thickness, they are properly dutiable under said paragraph 1406 at the rate of 30 cents per pound.

Although the latter claim was not specifically stated in the protests, plaintiff contends that it may, nevertheless, be pressed for the reason that the protests properly set forth the paragraph under which the [63]*63claim is made. It is argued, therefore, that since the lithographs were stipulated to be less than twelve one-thousandths of an inch in thickness, and more than 35 square inches in cutting size, no other rate than that of 30 cents per pound could possibly apply, if the basic contention of plaintiff that paragraph 1406 covers the merchandise be upheld. With this phase of plaintiff’s case we are in entire agreement. See The George C. Whitney Co. v. United States, 16 Ct. Cust. Appls. 301, T. D. 42874.

The issue on the merits arises by virtue of the fact that said paragraph 1406, which otherwise completely describes the imported merchandise, specifically excludes from its provisions “views of American scenery or objects.” The collector being of opinion that the involved prints were in fact views of American scenery held them to be within the exception to the paragraph.

The quoted exception to paragraph 1406 first became a part of our tariff laws with the enactment of the Tariff Act of 1909, and has been repeated without change in each subsequent tariff statute. Very shortly after Congress first employed the language in question, it was the subject of judicial determination in the case of Raphael Tuck & Sons Co. v. United States, 3 Ct. Cust. Appls. 501, T. D. 33163. It was there held that the words “views of American scenery or objects” meant “only such views as present actual places, buildings, landscapes, or scenes within the United States and not such as are almost entirely produced from the imagination of the artist.” The court was there concerned with certain picture postal cards, each of which depicted some event in the life of George Washington. The prints were classified pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 416 of said act of 1909, as .views of any landscape, scene, building, place, or locality in the United States.

In reaching the conclusion that it did, the court stated:

* * * The pictures do not profess to represent with accuracy any real locality or actual scene or scenery within the United States; and, indeed, such a representation is obviously impossible in the treatment of their respective subjects.
It may be observed that in paragraph 412 Congress has established a general classification which would include certain of the cards named in paragraph 416, if the first paragraph contained no exception to modify its general terms. However, paragraph 412 contains such an exception, and this was placed in the paragraph for the manifest purpose of making it consistent with the correlative provisions of paragraph 416 now under review. The language of that exception is as follows: “Except * * * views of American scenery or objects * * It thus appears from this cognate provision that the word “scene” as used in the one paragraph was intended to be synonymous with the word “scenery” as used in the other. This tends to confirm the court in the conclusion that the views covered by paragraph 412 are only such views as present actual places, buildings, landscapes, or scenes within the United States and not such as are almost entirely produced from the imagination of the artist.

Since paragraphs 1406 and 1410 of the present act contain the same [64]*64language as paragraphs 412 and 416 of the 1909 act, we are thus supplied with the test to be employed in determining whether the lithographed prints now before us are views of American scenery or objects. Moreover, in view of the stipulated fact that the instant prints are more than 35 square inches in cutting size they are, of course, excluded from that portion of said paragraph 1410 which provides for “views of any landscape, scene, building, place or locality in the United States, * * * occupying thirty-five square inches or less of surface per view, * * Hence, if they are in fact views of American scenery or objects, they were correctly classified by the collector, as manufactures of paper, not specially provided for.

The particular prints here under contention, samples of which were received in evidence at the trial of this case, are “Winter, A View of Monhegan, Maine,” by Rockwell'Kent (plaintiff’s exhibit 1); “Maine Islands,” by John Marin (plaintiff’s exhibit 2); and “Central Park,” by Maurice Prendergast (plaintiff’s exhibit 3). There was also offered in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibit 4, a catalog entitled “Fine Art Reproductions Old and Modern Masters,” published by the New York Graphic Society, which contains a black-and-white reproduction of each of the imported prints.

Two witnesses were called by plaintiff in its effort to establish that the involved prints were not “actual places, buildings, landscapes, or scenes within the United States.” As neither of these witnesses was acquainted with the actual locality from which the artists drew their inspirations for their respective paintings, plaintiff endeavored to elicit from them, on the basis of their knowledge of art, opinions concerning the actuality of the scenes depicted.

In this connection, Arthur Jaffe, president of plaintiff company, who has been in the business of publishing, importing, and selling prints for 49 years, testified with respect to exhibit 1 that it was not an actual, faithful reproduction of any particular locality or place. He subsequently modified that statement, however, with the comment that the artist, Kent, “was depicting everything as he saw it without too much imagination; without too much artistic fantasy.” With reference to exhibit 2, the witness’ comment was that if he saw the landscape, he would not recognize it from the painting. Upon being questioned as to exhibit 3, he stated:

Exhibit 3 was painted in I think about 1890 or so, in Central Park. I don’t know if these trees are still there or the horses are there. I know the automobiles are there instead. It also could be Central Park in Sydney, Australia. It could be Central Park in any part of the world and still be a valuable painting.

The witness, August Yon Munchhausen, an arrived artist, was of opinion, generally speaking, that a painter does not faithfully reproduce in detail, as does a photographer; that he paints from imagination; and that it is possible for two artists to paint an identical scene [65]*65which could be recognized by the finished product of one and not of the other.

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Related

Arthur Jaffe, Inc. v. United States
26 Cust. Ct. 385 (U.S. Customs Court, 1951)

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Bluebook (online)
25 Cust. Ct. 62, 1950 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arthur-jaffe-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1950.