Crosse & Blackwell Co. v. United States

36 C.C.P.A. 33, 1948 CCPA LEXIS 339
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedNovember 2, 1948
DocketNo. 4584
StatusPublished

This text of 36 C.C.P.A. 33 (Crosse & Blackwell Co. v. United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Crosse & Blackwell Co. v. United States, 36 C.C.P.A. 33, 1948 CCPA LEXIS 339 (ccpa 1948).

Opinion

Johnson, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Merchandise, consisting of mangoes in brine, peeled, pitted and sliced, imported from Jamaica, B. W. I., was assessed a duty of 7% cents per pound by the collector of the port of Baltimore, Maryland, under paragraph 746 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the trade agreement with Mexico, T. D. 50797. The importers protested said classification, claiming that the merchandise should be classified and assessed with duty at 35% ad valorem under paragraph 752 of said Act, as “Fruits * * * in brine, pickled, * * * or otherwise prepared or preserved, and not specially provided for.” This claim is the only one relied on by appellant in this court. The importers have appealed to this court from the judgment of the United States Customs Court, Third Division, rendered in accordance with its decision, C. D. 1055, overruling said protest.

The pertinent provisions of the tariff act insofar as they apply to this case are as follows:

Par. 746. (as modified by the Mexican Trade Agreement, T. D. 50797)
Mangoes___7}i cents per pound.
Pae. 752. Fruits * * * in brine, pickled * * * or otherwise prepared or preserved, and not specially provided for, * * * 35 per centum ad valorem * * *.

The uncontradicted evidence shows that the merchandise here involved is a variety of mango, known as a turpentine mango; that these turpentine mangoes are prepared by peeling the mango, removing the pits, slicing it, and packing it into barrels, 10 pounds of salt being added to each 50 pounds of sliced mangoes; that when the barrel is filled, the sliced mangoes are covered with a 15 degree brine, which is approximately 15 per cent salt;’ that the barrel is then stored, with the bung of the barrel open, and that a fermentation takes place, with the result that the brine will come bubbling out of the bung hole, and that each day the brine is replaced, until in about two or three weeks, fermentation ceases, and then the barrel is closed up and the merchandise is ready for shipment; that the brine is added to get a controlled fermentation and thereafter to serve as a preservative; that this [35]*35process is a standard pickling method; that the sliced mangoes are used as an ingredient in the manufacture of chutney; that there are about 88 varieties of mango; that the Hayden mango is the finest variety and is edible, but that the turpentine mango is quite fibrous and unpleasant to eat as a fresh fruit and that the taste is disagreeable; that the imported merchandise had an extremely salty flavor; that the price of the shipment was 8 cents per pound 'and that the Hayden mango has sold at from $4 to $4.50 per bushel when the turpentine mango sold at 40 cents per bushel.

The only issue presented here is whether the imported merchandise is dutiable under the eo nomine provision for mangoes in paragraph 746, supra, as modified by the Mexican Trade Agreement, T. D. 50797, or as fruits in brine under paragraph 752, supra.

In Nootka Packing Co. v. United States, 22 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 464, 470, T. D. 47464, the court stated the general rule that “an eo nomine statutory designation of an article, without limitations or a shown contrary legislative intent, judicial decision, or administrative practice to the contrary, and without proof of commercial designation, will include all forms of said article.”

The rule laid down in the Nootka case, supra, has been announced on numerous occasions. Chew Hing Lung v. Wise, 176 U. S. 156; Neuman & Schwiers Co. et al. v. United States, 4 Ct. Cust. Appls. 64, T. D. 33310; Brown & Co. v. United States, 6 Ct. Cust. Appls. 415, T. D. 35977; Mawer Co. v. United States, 7 Ct. Cust. Appls. 493, T. D. 37108; and followed in Nozaki Bros. et al. v. United States, 71 Treas. Dec. 790, T. D. 48974; Vanillaproco, Inc. v. United States, 6 Cust. Ct. 441, C. D. 510; B. Cardinale v. United States, 8 Cust. Ct. 119, C. D. 588; Centennial Flour Mills Co., et al. v. United States, 29 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 264, C. A. D. 200; Quong Lee & Co. et al. v. United States, 10 Cust. Ct. 23, C. D. 716; S. B. Penick & Co., Inc. v. United States, 14 Cust. Ct. 9, C. D. 904; United States v. Nippon Co. et al., 32 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 164, C. A. D. 303; United States v. Fung Chong Co., 34 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 40, C. A. D. 342.

Appellant contends that the imported merchandise, is something ■different from mangoes; that it is fruit in brine, pickled or otherwise prepared or preserved, and that it is dutiable under paragraph 752, supra. In support of that contention appellant cites Brennan v. United States, (Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit), 136 Fed. Rep. 743, T. D. 26317; Malouf v. United States, 1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 437, T. D. 31502; Microutsicos v. United States, 2 Ct. Cust. Appls. 342, T. D. 32078; Stone & Co. v. United States, 7 Ct. Cust. Appls. 173, T. D. 36492; United States v. La Manna, Azema & Farnan et al., 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 123, T. D. 41647; United States v. Pacific Trading Co., 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 131, T. D. 41649; United States v. Sheldon & Co., 14 Ct. Cust. Appls. 228, T. D. 41708; Oreste Franchi v. United States, [36]*3656 Treas. Dec. 562, T. D. 43710; and United States v. Wing Chong Lung Co., et al., 33 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 36, C. A. D. 312.

We have examined those cases and carefully considered the brief and the supplemental memorandum filed by counsel for appellant. However, all of the above cases are easily distinguishable from the instant case with the exception of Oreste Franchi v. United States, supra. In that case, small oranges in brine were held to be dutiable as fruits in brine, rather than under the eo nomine provision for oranges. However, the decision in that case was not followed in the later cases of Quong Lee & Co. v. United States, supra, and Nozaki Bros. et al. v. United States, supra, in which preserved and honeyed kumquats and canned mandarin oranges were held dutiable as oranges.

It is argued by the importer that the merchandise here involved, because it has an unpleasant, bitter and very salty taste, and because it has been put through a fermentation process of pickling, establishes that the character, nature and use of this imported commodity are substantially different from the character, nature and use of fresh mangoes, and is very different from the tropical fruit connoted by the term “mangoes.”

Mr. W. L. Kennedy, the only witness produced at the trial, testified as follows:

Q. To what purpose do you put merchandise like Exhibits 1, 2 and 3? (Samples of the mangoes here involved.) [Matter in italics ours] — A. They are used as ingredients in the manufacture of chutney.
Q. Do you know of any other use to which it is put than that which you have mentioned? — -A. No, sir.

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Related

Chew Hing Lung v. Wise
176 U.S. 156 (Supreme Court, 1900)
Malouf v. United States
1 Ct. Cust. 437 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1911)
Microutsicos v. United States
2 Ct. Cust. 342 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1911)
Neuman v. United States
4 Ct. Cust. 64 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1913)
Schade & Co. v. United States
5 Ct. Cust. 465 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1914)
Brown v. United States
6 Ct. Cust. 415 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1915)
Stone v. United States
7 Ct. Cust. 173 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1916)
Mawer Co. v. United States
7 Ct. Cust. 493 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1917)
Tower & Sons v. United States
11 Ct. Cust. 157 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1921)
Smillie & Co. v. United States
11 Ct. Cust. 199 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1921)
United States v. La Manna
14 Ct. Cust. 123 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1926)
United States v. Pacific Trading Co.
14 Ct. Cust. 131 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1926)
United States v. Sheldon
14 Ct. Cust. 228 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1926)
Vanillaproco, Inc. v. United States
6 Cust. Ct. 441 (U.S. Customs Court, 1941)
Cardinale v. United States
8 Cust. Ct. 119 (U.S. Customs Court, 1942)
Quong Lee v. United States
10 Cust. Ct. 23 (U.S. Customs Court, 1942)
S. B. Penick & Co. v. United States
14 Cust. Ct. 9 (U.S. Customs Court, 1944)

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36 C.C.P.A. 33, 1948 CCPA LEXIS 339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/crosse-blackwell-co-v-united-states-ccpa-1948.