Brummer Gallery, Inc. v. United States

5 Cust. Ct. 64, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2106
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedAugust 16, 1940
DocketC. D. 371
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 5 Cust. Ct. 64 (Brummer Gallery, 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
Brummer Gallery, Inc. v. United States, 5 Cust. Ct. 64, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2106 (cusc 1940).

Opinion

Cline, Judge:

This is a suit against the United States in which the plaintiff seeks to recover the duty assessed on certain bronze orna[65]*65ments at the rate of 45 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930. It is claimed that the articles are free of duty under paragraph 1811 as artistic antiquities produced prior to the year 1830.

At the trial counsel for the plaintiff moved in evidence all of the papers in the case, including particularly the notations of the examiner appearing thereon. Also, there was submitted a stipulation containing the following:

It is hereby stipulated and agreed by and between counsel for the plaintiff and the Assistant Attorney General for the United States:
1. That the merchandise covered by the protest in suit assessed for duty at 45% ad val. under Par. 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930 consists of 178 pieces of bronze ornaments and 8 bronze seals returned by the appraiser as believed produced prior to 1830 and appraised at 15,000 French francs;
2. That said merchandise was not enumerated or described on the invoices accompanying the entry in suit, but was in addition to the merchandise described thereon;
3. That the merchandise was not assessed with an additional duty of 25% of the.value under Section 489 of the Tariff Act of 1930;
4. That all of the merchandise covered by this shipment was sent directly to the importer’s place of business;
5. That said merchandise was there examined by customs authorities on October 1, 1936;
C. That said merchandise was released from customs custody prior to receipt by the importer of notice of the excess merchandise;
7. That the appraiser’s action on the invoice was completed on December 17, 1936;
8. That a six months bond vas given for the production of the consular invoice and owner’s affidavit;
9. That the regularly certified consular invoice containing the required antique information for the merchandise in suit was received and filed with the Collector of Customs on February 8, 1937, within the six months bonded period, in satisfaction of the bond given for its production;
10. That the owner’s affidavit of antiquity on customs form 3343 was received and filed with the Collector of Customs on February 8, 1937, within the six months bonded period, in satisfaction of the bond given for its production.
11. That if the documents referred to in Paragraphs 9 and 10 hereof had been filed prior to the release of the merchandise from customs custody, the merchandise covered by this protest would, in liquidation, have been classified free of duty under Paragraph 1811 of the Tariff Act of 1930.
12. That the original entry papers and all other papers mentioned herein cannot be located.

Free entry under paragraph 1811 is conditioned upon compliance with the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury as to proof of antiquity. The shipment which contained the articles here under consideration was entered on September 29, 1936. The conditions which the importers of antiquities were required to meet at that time are contained in article 450 (c) and (d) of the Customs Regulations of 1931. Article 450 (c) was amended on September 23, 1932 (T. D. 45890) and that amendment, together with article 450 (d) was amended [66]*66on September 13, 1933 (T. D. 46622). This amendment, which was in force at the time of importation of the goods herein, reads as follows:

Article 450 (c). Regardless of the value of the articles the ■ invoice filed in connection with the entry shall contain a declaration by the seller or shipper, showing the name and address of the person from whom the articles were acquired, the date when acquired, and, if possible, the place and approximate date of production; but this declaration may be waived by the collector in any case where he is satisfied that failure to produce it is not due to any lack of diligence or good faith on the part of the importer and that the information is not required for any purpose in connection with the classification and appraisal of the articles, provided the affidavit of the owner required by paragraph (d) of this article is supplemented by a sworn statement of the owner, giving all the facts within his knowledge tending to show how long the articles have been in existence and where they were produced.
(id) An affidavit by the owner on customs Form 3343 shall also be filed in connection with the entry.

Before the amendment in T. D. 46622, article 450 (c) and (d) contained the requirement that the invoice with the proper statements thereon and the affidavit of the owner should be filed “on entry”, but in the amended regulation that requirement was changed to read “in connection with the entry.”

The fact that the articles herein involved are artistic antiquities produced prior to the year. 1830 appears to be undisputed and the only question involved is whether the importer may secure free entry of the goods under paragraph 1811 in view of the fact that they were not described on the invoice upon which entry was originally made and that they were released to the importer prior to a compliance with the customs regulations.

The collector accepted a bond for the production of the required documents and they were filed prior to the expiration of the bond, but, nevertheless, the collector rdfused to classify the goods under paragraph 1811 because the documents required by the regulations were not filed before the goods were released to the importer. The case containing the goods was sent to the importer’s place of business directly from the dock and it was released to the importer before he received notice that excess articles were contained in the case and before the collector accepted his bond for the production of the required documents, so that, under the collector’s interpretation of the law, the giving of the bond and the production of the required documents were useless procedures.

An examination of the copy of the original invoice and of the entry in the papers covering the case shows that all the other articles in the shipment were returned free of duty under paragraph 1811, the only duty assessed being on the excess merchandise. An additional invoice containing the required data respecting the excess merchandise appears among the papers of the case but the required owner’s [67]*67affidavit is missing. According to statements in the stipulation filed in the case, the original entry papers and all other papers originally filed cannot be located and we assume that the owner’s affidavit filed under the terms of the bond and all of the original papers were mislaid in the customhouse.

The plaintiff refers to article 300 of the Customs Regulations of 1931 for the purpose of showing the collector’s authority for accepting a bond for the production of missing papers. That regulation read as follows :

Art. 300. Incomplete entry — General order — Bonds for the production of documents.—
(b)

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Related

Wormser v. United States
32 Cust. Ct. 163 (U.S. Customs Court, 1954)
Davies v. United States
25 Cust. Ct. 182 (U.S. Customs Court, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 Cust. Ct. 64, 1940 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 2106, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brummer-gallery-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1940.