C. S. Osborne & Co. v. United States

17 Cust. Ct. 96, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 502
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedOctober 9, 1946
Docket(C. D. 1026)
StatusPublished

This text of 17 Cust. Ct. 96 (C. S. Osborne & Co. 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
C. S. Osborne & Co. v. United States, 17 Cust. Ct. 96, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 502 (cusc 1946).

Opinion

LawreNce, Judge:

The question submitted for our determination is whether certain upholsterers’ pins are properly dutiable at the rate of 45 per centum ad valorem under the provision in paragraph 397 of the Tariff Act of 1930 for—

Articles or wares not specially provided for * * * composed wholly or in chief value of iron, steel * * * or other metal, but not plated with platinum, gold, or silver, or colored with gold lacquer * * *

as classified by the collect’or of customs, or at the rate of 35 per centum ad valorem under the provision in paragraph 350 of said act for—

Pins with solid heads, without ornamentation, including hair, safety, hat, bonnet, and shawl pins * * * all the foregoing not plated with gold or silver, and not commonly known as jewelry * * *

as claimed by the plaintiff.

The pins in controversy are represented by a sample marked “Exhibit 1” in evidence herein, and the precise nature or character thereof is not disputed. The exhibit measures about 3K inches in length, has one end pointed and the other looped or bent in circular form, somewhat resembling the head of an eye-screw. It is neither ornamented nor plated with gold or silver, and is not commonly known as jewelry. Its only use is by upholsterers in fastening fabrics to the [98]*98table during the cutting operation and in holding them in place when covering furniture.

Plaintiff, in its brief, states that “the only question presented by this case is whether or not exhibit 1 has a solid head.” After contending “that it does,” plaintiff alleges that “the language of Par. 350 clearly indicates that it was the intent of Congress to include just such articles as Exhibit 1,” because “Congress has specifically mentioned hair, safety, hat, bonnet and shawl pins as being included within the provisions for pins with solid heads.” “This inclusion,” plaintiff asserts, “is some indication of what Congress meant by a solid head.” In other words, it is urged that “if a safety pin has a solid head within the meaning of this paragraph, clearly Exhibit 1 has.”

The brief also mentions common or dressmakers’ pins as covered by the phrase “Pins with solid heads,” citing the trade agreement between the United States and the United Kingdom, effective January 1, 1939, 74 Treas. Dec. 253, T. D. 49753, wherein the rate of duty imposed by said provision was reduced from 35 to 30 per centum ad valorem on “common or dressmakers’ pins.” Apparently plaintiff perceives an analogy between such pins and those here in controversy. At any rate, our attention is invited to a detailed description of the manufacturing processes employed in maiding common or dressmakers’ pins, as set forth in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary, vol. II, page 1705. It appears therefrom that the heads of such pins are formed by flattening one end of the wire in a die. However, as above stated, the head of exhibit 1 is shaped by bending the end to form a circle. From the same page of the cited authority counsel quotes as’ follows:

Pins of peculiar forms and sizes are made for specific purposes. Among these may be mentioned diaper, dress, cloak, scarf, shawl pins, whose names indicate their duty.

In other words, plaintiff’s view of the law is that—

* * * Congress intended to include within the provision for pins with solid heads all those pins whose heads were formed from a flattening, bending, or other manipulation of the wire itself.

And as the basis for such interpretation plaintiff reasons as follows:

The second part of Par. 350 provides for pins with heads of glass, paste, or fusible enamel. As the court well knows, a pin whose head is composed of glass may be either hollow or solid, but in either event it is a separate and distinct part of the pin, whereas the head of Exhibit 1, as in the case of the common or dressmakers’ pin, is but a flattening or bending of the wire itself, just as the point is but a grinding or sharpening of the other end of the wire itself * * *

Defendant, on the other hand, takes the view that, inasmuch as it is at once apparent from a mere inspection of exhibit 1 that it has a hollow as distinguished from a solid head, and since it is obviously not a hair, safety, hat, bonnet, or shawl pin, it must be denied classifi[99]*99cation under the provision in paragraph 350, supra, invoked herein by the plaintiff. Defendant further contends that since there exists no specific tariff provision for upholsterers’ pins, they were properly relegated to the general provision in paragraph 397, supra, for articles not specially provided for, composed wholly or in chief value of metal, as classified by the collector. That conclusion, defendant asserts, seems inevitable in view of the legislative and judicial history of said paragraph 350 and its predecessors.

We are of the opinion that the contentions of the defendant are well founded. The Tariff Act of 1883 (par. 209) provided for “Pins, solid-head or other.” The act of 1890 (par. 206) for—

Pins, metallic, solid-head or other, including hair-pins, safety-pins, and hat, bonnet, shawl, and belt pins * * *

The act of 1894 (par. 170) for—

Pins, metallic, including pins with solid or glass heads, hair pins, safety pins, . and hat, bonnet, shawl, and belt pins, not commercially known as jewelry • * * *

The act of 1897 (par. 188) for—

Pins with solid heads, without ornamentation, including hair, safety, hat, bonnet, and shawl pins; any of the foregoing composed wholly of brass, copper, iron, steel, or other base metal, not plated, and not commonly known as jewelry * * *

The act of 1909 (par. 188) for—

Pins with solid heads, without ornamentation, including hair, safety, hat, bonnet, and shawl pins; any of the foregoing composed wholly of brass, copper, iron, steel, or other base metal, not plated with gold or silver, and not commonly known as jewelry * * *

The last-quoted language was substantially reenacted in the tariff acts of 1913, 1922, and 1930, except that in the last two acts a provision was added covering pins with heads of glass, paste, or fusible enamel, a classification wluch is not here in issue.

Defendant contends, and we think correctly, that said legislative history is indicative of a consistent purpose on the part of Congress to restrict, rather than .to enlarge, the scope of the provision for pins with solid heads; and that whenever any change in that policy was made whereby the provision was extended to include some particular class of pins, that intention was clearly manifested by appropriate, specific, or eo nomine designations.

In this connection, we deem highly important the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States in Robertson v. Rosenthal, 132 U. S. 460, decided in 1889. The articles in that case were described by the court/as “ordinary headless hair-pins, made of steel wire and iron wire,” and the question submitted was whether they were dutiable as “pins; solid-head or other.” Referring to prior legislation on the subject, the court mentioned these tariff provisions; In the act of [100]*1001862 (12 Stat.

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Related

Robertson v. Rosenthal
132 U.S. 460 (Supreme Court, 1889)
Carlowitz v. United States
2 Ct. Cust. 172 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1911)
Bloomingdale Bros. v. United States
3 Ct. Cust. 204 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1912)

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Bluebook (online)
17 Cust. Ct. 96, 1946 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/c-s-osborne-co-v-united-states-cusc-1946.