Arthur v. Morgan

112 U.S. 495, 5 S. Ct. 241, 28 L. Ed. 825, 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1902
CourtSupreme Court of the United States
DecidedDecember 22, 1884
Docket110
StatusPublished
Cited by105 cases

This text of 112 U.S. 495 (Arthur v. Morgan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of the United States primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arthur v. Morgan, 112 U.S. 495, 5 S. Ct. 241, 28 L. Ed. 825, 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1902 (1884).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Blatchford

delivered, the opinion of the court. He recited the facts as stated above, and continued:

It was provided by § 2505 of the Revised Statutes of 1874, that the importation of the following articles should be exempt fn" m duty:

. i. “ Books, household effects, or libraries, or parts of libraries, in use, of persons or families from foreign countries, if used abroad by them not less than one year,.and not intended for any other person or persons, nor for sale.” (P. 484, 2d ed.)

2. “ Personal and household effects, not merchandise, of citizens of the Unitbd States dying abroad.” (P. 487, 2d ed.)

3. “Rearing apparel in actual use, and other personal effects (not merchandise), professional books, implements, instruments, and tools of trade, occupation or employment of persons arrivingLin the United States. But this exemption shall not be construed to include machinery, or other articles imported for use in any manufacturing establishment, or for sale.” (P. 489, 2d ed.)

*498 By .§ 1 of the act of August 10, 1790, ch'. 39, 1 Stat. 181, there were exempted from duty, “ the clothes, books, household furniture, and the tools or implements of the trade or profession of persons who come to reside in the United States.” This exemption was continued by 8 2 of the act of May 2, 1792, -ch. 27, 1 Stat. 260.

As to the above clause 1, Schedule I of the act of July 30, 1846, ch. 74, 9 Stat. 49, exempted from duty “household effects, old and in use, of persons or families fromioreign countries, if used abroad by them, and not intended for any other person or persons, or for sale.” The same exemption was continued in § 3 of the act of March 3, 1857, ch. 98, 11 Stat. 194, and in § 23 of the act of March 2,. 1861, ch. 68, 12 Id. 195. f>y § 22 of the act of July 14, 1870, ch. 255, 16 Id. 265, 268, exemption was extended, in addition, to “ household effects of persons and families returning or emigrating from foreign countries, which have been in actual use abroad by them, and not intended for any other person or persons, or for ■sale, not exceeding the value of five hundred dollars.” The above clause 1 first appeared in § 5 of the act of June 6, 1872, ch. 315, 17 Stat. 234, and is now in force as part of § 2503 ■of the Revised Statutes, by virtue of § 6 of the act of March 3, 1883, ch. 121, 22 Stat. 518. '

As to the above clause 2, § 9 of the act of August 30, 1842, ch. 270, 5 Stat. 560, exempted from duty “ books, and personal and household effects, not merchandise, of citizens of the United States dying abroad.”- Omitting the words “ books and ” this 'provision was repeated in Schedule I of the act of July-30, 1846, ch. 74, 9 Stat. 49, and in § 3 of the act of March 3, 1857, ch. 98, 11 Id. 194, and in § 23 of the act of March 2,1861, ch. 68,12 Id. 195, and is now in force as part of § 2503'of the Revised Statutes, by virtue of § 6 of the act of March 3, 1883, ch. 121, 22 Stat. 520.

The history of clause 3 above is fully given in Astor v. Merritt, 111 U. S. 210.

Id June, 1876, the Attorney-General advised the Seei’etary of the Treasury that the words “ personal effects,” in clause 8 above, did not include carriages previously in use; but only *499 such things as are worn, like apparel, upon the person, or are ■iised in connection therewith ; and shortly afterwards he advised the same officer that the words. “ household effects,” in clause 1 above, did not include carriages used abroad not less than one year and intended for personal use here. 15 Opi nions, 113,125. On this construction the department has acted. The last opinion proceeded on the ground that early and repeated decisions in England had held that books, wares, horses; &c., did not pass under bequests of “ household goods and effects,” and that the express mention of books, in clause 1, and the omission of other articles so determined not to be included under the general term “ househo!4 effects,” indicated that “ carriages ” were not within the exemption.

The word “ effects ” means “ property or worldly substance.” When it is accompanied, in'a will, by words of narrow sr import, the bequest, if not residuary, may be confined to species of property ejusdem generis with those previously described.. But the analogies to be derived from wills are not strictly applicable to a cáse like the present, and no material aid can be derived from decisions in regard to wills. The construction of the words “ household effects” in a will often depends largely on the meaning, of words in other provisions in the will, and upon the qualification by the word “ other,” ■ as referring to specific articles before named, like the word “ other ” in clause 3 above. In the present case the only direct qualification of “ effects ” is household.”

Persons who dwell together as a family constitute a “ household.” In New York, a statute exempted from execution a. cow “ owned by any person being a householder.” In Woodward v. Murray, 18 Johns. 400, a judgment debtor, who owned a cow, had left his wife and children, they continuing to reside in the house he had occupied. While they were on the road, removing to the house of the wife’s father, with the cow and their household furniture, the cow was seized on execution. The court held that the exemption continued so long as the wife and children remained together “ as a family,” and that they continued to be the debtor’s “household” and he the “ householder.”

*500 The question for decision in this case is, whether the carriage of the. plaintiff fell under either of these heads: (1) “ household .effects, in use; of a person ór a family from a foreign country, used abroad by the person or the family not less than one year, and not intended for any other person or persons, nor for sale; ”• (2) “ personal effects (not merchandise), nor for sale, of a person arriving in the United States.”

•The carriage had been in use as a family carriage, abroad, by the, plaintiff, as owner, for more than a year.. She. came from abroad after a temporary residence there of three years, and imported the carriage two weeks later for use here, and not for any other person nor for sale. Was it “household effects” or “personal effects” of the plaintiff? We think that it fell within clause i and was “ household effects.”

In the provision respecting the “ household effects ” of persons or familiés, there is an evident intention to include articles which pertain to a person as a householder or to a family as a household, which have been used abroad not less'than a year, and are not intended for others nor for sale. Á. carriage is peculiarly a family or household article. It contributes,- in a large degree, to the health, convenience, comfort and welfare of the householder or of the family. The statute, is not limited to articles of household ■ furniture, or to things whose place is necessarily within the four walls of a house.' Clause 2 above uses the words “ personal and household effects.” This serves to show that, by.

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Bluebook (online)
112 U.S. 495, 5 S. Ct. 241, 28 L. Ed. 825, 1884 U.S. LEXIS 1902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arthur-v-morgan-scotus-1884.