Ellison v. United States

15 Ct. Cust. 210, 1927 WL 29461, 1927 CCPA LEXIS 99
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 27, 1927
DocketNo. 2885
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 15 Ct. Cust. 210 (Ellison 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
Ellison v. United States, 15 Ct. Cust. 210, 1927 WL 29461, 1927 CCPA LEXIS 99 (ccpa 1927).

Opinion

Hatfield, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

Merchandise invoiced as “buckskin strappings” and known also as “buckskin strippings,” composed of buckskin leather, and cut to form and size for use as inserts or pads on riding breeches, was assessed for duty by the collector at the port of Philadelphia at 30 per centum ad valorem as manufactures of leather, not specially provided for, under paragraph 1432 of the Tariff Act of 1922, which provides as follows:

Pae. 1432. Bags, baskets, belts, satchels, cardcases, pocketbooks, jewel boxes portfolios, and other boxes and cases, not jewelry, wholly or in chief value of leather or parchment, and moccasins, and manufactures of leather, rawhide, or parchment or of which leather, rawhide, or parchment is the component material of chief value, not specially provided for, 30 per centum ad valorem; any of the foregoing permanently fitted and furnished with traveling, bottle, drinking, dining or luncheon, sewing, manicure, or similar sets, 46 per centum ad valorem.

It is claimed in the protests that the merchandise is free of duty under paragraph 1606 either as leather, not specially provided for, or as “leather cut into * * * forms suitable for conversion into manufactured articles,” or, alternatively, dutiable at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1431.

On the trial below two witnesses testified for the importer. Rod-man E. Thompson, a member of the firm of J. B. Ellison & Sons, importer, testified: That the merchandise is used as “a pad on riding breeches, around the knee for protection of the rider and to give him a better.grip against the saddle;” that he knew of no other use for “buckskin strappings” than as inserts or pads for riding breeches; that, while those involved in this litigation are all of one size, they are [212]*2123nade in several sizes to meet the demands of the trade and to avoid unnecessary trimming and waste. In this connection the witness said: “They have to be modeled to fit the garment. They are imported as a size that is as nearly as we can estimate the general size that is wanted, and the size in which the least loss is met in cutting up these skins and can be handled by the tailor without a great deal of unnecessary trimming.” He said the articles were sold to “tailors and the makers of riding breeches;” that he believed that they were usually trimmed to conform to the garment on which they were sewed; and that they were cut to size and form because, by so doing, a larger number of inserts could be secured than by cutting a hide of leather into strips.

The witness, Frank H. Lawley, a merchant tailor, testified in part as follows:

Q. Are these so-called strippings used in precisely the form and shape you see them there, or do you cut them to fit the particular need? — A. We get them in this standard size, but of course it is easy to be explained that a man with a 48 seat and a man with a 36 seat or the difference in height — take a man 5 foot 1, and a man 6 feet tall, they will have to be trimmed off according to the pad, to the particular reinforcement on those breeches.
Q. They are, as a matter of fact, retrimmed or reeut to suit the customers?— A. They have to be trimmed slightly because they are not uniform in shape always; they are not always even; they will vary a little and we have to trim them to meet that variance.
Q. You buy them in that one size? — A. We buy them in that one size.
Q. And, naturally, they are only fitted for that particular size trouser?— A. No; we use it as I stated on a 45 or a 36 inch seat, or for a 5-foot 3-inch man, or a 6-inch man; you get the same stripping, but they have to be trimmed down. That is the only size that I have seen us handle. We never asked for any difference in size. If they have them I am not familiar with the other sizes, but this is the size that we buy them, and I say according as our designer designs that reinforcement, that reinforcement has to be recut, trimmed off to meet that design.
Q. Can they generally be used that way or must they be trimmed? — A. Oh, they must be trimmed, because they will not run uniform; as they come in they will vary a little; they are not cut exactly as they come in; we must go over them.
Q. So you would say generally they have to be trimmed? — A. Yes; they generally have to be trimmed; different men require different things.

The collector’s report describes the merchandise as follows:

DESCRIPTION 0E MERCHANDISE AND ASSESSMENT
Buckskin strappings cut to shape and size ready to be sewn on riding breeches held dutiable under paragraph 1432, act of 1922, at 30 per cent.

The court below overruled the protest and the importer appealed to this court.

The appellant contends that, as the articles are irregular in shape and must be trimmed to secure the desired shape and size for use as [213]*213pads or inserts, and that, as they are not ejusdem generis with the articles enumerated in paragraph 1432, they are not dutiable thereunder as manufactures of leather, but are free of duty under paragraph 1606, either as leather not specially provided for or as leather cut into forms suitable for conversion into manufactured articles.

The Government claims that the imported articles are made from buckskin leather; that they have a distinctive name, and are so processed as to be definitely and finally committed to a single use, and fit for no other use; that they are further advanced than leather cut to form, and are, therefore, manufactures of leather.

We quote from the opinion written by Graham, P. J., in the case of Kleinberger & Katz v. United States, 12 Ct. Cust. Appls. 571, T.D. 40798:

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Related

Rink v. United States
16 Ct. Cust. 132 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1928)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
15 Ct. Cust. 210, 1927 WL 29461, 1927 CCPA LEXIS 99, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ellison-v-united-states-ccpa-1927.