Bischoff v. United States

7 Ct. Cust. 138, 1916 WL 21497, 1916 CCPA LEXIS 56
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals·Decided May 23, 1916·No. No. 1652·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

Barber, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The importation was invoiced as cigar lighters, ” and is so referred to.

The only question in the case is one of law, and involves the consideration of the following paragraphs of the tariff aci of 1913:

356. Jewelry, commonly or commercially so known, valued above 20 cents per dozen pieces, 60 per centum ad valorem; rope, curb, cable, and fancy patterns of chain not exceeding one-half inch in diameter, width, or thickness, valued above 30 cents per yard; and articles valued above 20 cents per dozen pieces designed to be worn on apparel or carried on or about or attached to the person, such as and including buckles, card cases, chains, cigar cases, cigar cutters, cigar holders, cigarette cases, cigarette holders, coin holders, collar, cuff, and dress buttons, combs, match boxes, mesh bags and purses, millinery, military, and hah ornaments, pins, powder cases,’ stamp cases, vanity cases, and like articles; all the foregoing and parts thereof, finished or partly finished, composed of metal, whether or not enameled, washed, covered, or plated, * * s 60 per centum ad valorem. * ⅜ *
381. Pipes and smokers’ articles: Common tobacco pipes and pipe bowls made wholly of clay, 25 per centum ad valorem; other pipes and pipe bowls of whatever material composed, and all smokers’ articles whatsoever, not specially provided for in this section, including cigarette books, cigarette-book covers, pouches for smoking or chewing tobacco, and cigarette paper in all forms, except cork paper, 50 per centum ad valorem; meerschaum, crude or unmanufactured, 20 per centum ad valorem.

No question being made as to its correctness, we adopt the description of a sample of the merchandise contained in the opinion of the Board of General Appraisers. It—

Consists of an article of the shape and size of a gold-tipped paper cigarette, composed of gilt and enameled metal, valued above 20 cents per dozen nieces, and designed to be carried on the person. The tip is removable, and when pulled off quickly a sparking device in the interior ignites a wick.

[140] The evidence was undisputed that it is carried by smokers to light cigars.

The importation was assessed under paragraph 356, and claimed to be dutiable under paragraph 381. A majority of the Board of General Appraisers, one member filing a dissenting opinion, affirmed the collector’s assessment, and the case is here upon the importers’ appeal. They concede for the purposes of this case that, if it were not for the provisions of paragraph 381, the merchandise would be dutiable as assessed, and the Government concedes that both paragraphs embrace it. The question, therefore, for as is, which of the recited provisions more closely describes these cigar lighters.

Paragraph 381 indicates that it is designed to coyer pipes and smokers’ articles and to include “all smokers’ articles whatsoever not specially provided for,” and is to include cigarette books, cigarette-book covers, and various other things therein enumerated. This paragraph is a reenactment, so far'as affects any issue here, of paragraphs 459 and 475 of the tariff acts of 1897 and 1909, respectively.

These provisions have been the subject of consideration by this court in several cases, among them being Vandiver v. United States (1 Ct. Cust. Appls., 194; T. D. 31219); Knauth v. United States (1 Ct. Cust. Appls., 334; T. D. 31432); and Mark Cross Co. v. United States (1 Ct. Cust. Appls., 377; T. D. 31457).

j’ In the Knauth case, supra, it was said, speaking of the term “ all smokers’ articles whatsoever,” that—

The intensified form of the expression used, together with the far-reaching effect of the qualifying words stated, manifests to our mind a purpose on the part of the legislature to reach out into all branches of trade and commerce and to gather within the dutiable provisions of this paragraph everything used chiefly by smokers, in that pursuit, and for that purpose, wherever else they may occur or within whatever other provisions of the tariff law the merchandise may be included.

_ As suggested, paragraph 381, as did its ancestors, contains the n. s. p. f. provision. The purpose and effect, generally speaking, of such provisions was considered in the case of United States v. Snow (6 Ct. Cust. Appls., 120; T. D. 35388). In substance it was said that its presence in a given paragraph advised the customs authorities that merchandise otherwise within it might be classified under some other paragraph; that if the other paragraph contained an eo nomine provision and the paragraph in-which the n. s. p. f. provision was found was general and not eo nomine, the former would control; that an eo nomine provision was not necessarily shorn of its controlling force because coupled with the, provision n. s. p. f.; that where one of two competing paragraphs contained the n.-s. p. f. provision and the other did not, the description of each being in other respects equally specific, the presence in the one and the absence from the other of such provision would determine the classification of merchandise [141] equally within either paragraph. See in this connection Hall v. United States (131 Fed., 684; T. D. 25340); same case (136 Fed., 774); and Thomas v. Wanamaker (129 Fed., 92).

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Bischoff v. United States, 7 Ct. Cust. 138, 1916 WL 21497, 1916 CCPA LEXIS 56 (ccpa 1916).

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