Florea & Co. v. United States

15 Cust. Ct. 376, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1034
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedJune 27, 1945
DocketNo. 6190; Entry No. 845859
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 15 Cust. Ct. 376 (Florea & 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
Florea & Co. v. United States, 15 Cust. Ct. 376, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1034 (cusc 1945).

Opinions

Lawrence, Judge:

The basic facts of this case are set forth in the opinion below (Reap. Dec. 5908) from which we quote:

[377]*377The merchandise covered by the shipment in question is wool knit gloves, quality 7107, exported from Japan on May 2, 1936, and entered at the port of New York on May 26, 1936. It was entered at the invoice price, representing, as claimed by plaintiff, expoft value as defined in section 402 (d) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. 1940 ed. § 1402) of 6.10 yen per dozen ($1.76 U. S. currency). The appraiser found an export value of 5.90 yen ($1.70 U. S. currency) per dozen, thus rendering applicable the provisions of the Presidential proclamation (T. D. 48183) issued under authority of section 336 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. 1940 ed. § 1336) and declaring that duty on wool knit gloves from Japan, valued at not more than $1.75 per dozen, shall be based on American selling price as defined in section 402 (g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. 1940 ed. § 1402 (g)). Accordingly, the present merchandise was appraised on the basis of American selling price at $5.50 per dozen.

For reasons which will presently be stated, the trial court did not proceed to determine the value of the merchandise, but upon motion of the Government held that the appeal for reappraisement was invalid under the authority of section 501 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U. S. C. § 1501). This conclusion was based upon the finding that the importer had failed to comply with the requirements of sections 481, 482, 484, and 485 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (U. S. C. §§ 1481, 1482, 1484, and. 1485). Judgment was accordingly entered which recites in part:

It is Heeeby Ordered, Adjudged, and Decreed that the appeal be, and the same is hereby, dismissed.

This proceeding is an application for a review of that judgment.

Sections 481, 482, 484, and 485, supra, are very long, and embrace a large number of provisions which, it is alleged by the Government, must be complied with by the importer at the peril of his appeal being declared invalid by virtue of that part of section 501, supra, which reads:

No such appeal filed by the consignee or his agent shall be deemed valid, unless he has complied with all of the provisions of this Act relating to the entry and appraisement of such merchandise.

It should be noted that sections 481 and 482, supra, definitely relate to the invoice and its contents, whereas the provision in section 501, supra, by virtue of which it was held that the appeal for reappraisement was invalid, confines its application to compliance “with all the provisions of this Act relating to the entry and appraisement of such merchandise.” (Italics supplied.]

In Agruba Trading Co. v. United States, 14 Cust. Ct. 338, Reap. Dec. 6104, decided February 26, 1945, this court held that the provisions of section 481,. supra, were not within the orbit of the provisions of section 501, just quoted above. We there said in part:

Furthermore, we are clearly of the opinion that the provision above quoted from section 501 does not contemplate compliance by the consignee or his agent with the terms of section 481 as a condition precedent to the validity of an appeal for reappraisement. That provision expressly confines its application to compliance “with all the provisions of this Act relating to the entry afid appraisement [378]*378of such merchandise.” [Emphasis added.] Upon examination of other provisions of said act of 1930, it will be observed that section 481, supra, is entitled “Invoice — Contents”; section 482 — “Certified Invoice,” while section 484 bears the title “Entry of Merchandise” and section 485 relates to the “Declaration,” and sets forth the requirements imposed upon every consignee in making entry under thé provisions of section 484. Other sections of the act may also be noted which refer expressly to “entry.” See sections 487, 490, and 498.
Section 500 refers to “Duties of Appraising Officers”; section 501 to “Notice of Appraisement — Reappraisement”; and section 502 to “Regulations for Appraisement and Classification.”
With these facts in mind we conclude that the language of section 501 reading “unless he has complied with all the provisions of this Act relating to the entry and appraisement of such merchandise” does not relate to invoicing (sections 481 and 482, supra). ,
This view was expressed by the late Judge Brown in a concurring opinion in United States v. Alatary Mica Co., Reap. Circ. 1824 (1930), from which we quote:
Section 501 is a remedial statute which provides a necessary legal remedy and is not to be construed in a way which in many cases would destroy such necessary legal remedy. It does not mention invoicing, and invoicing and entering are two separate things.
To bring invoicing in by construction would violate the fundamental -rule of statutory construction, that in applying remedial statues, as Sutherland on Statutory Construction says (Sec. 430 Ed. of 1891):
Liberal construction is given to suppress the mischief and advance the remedy. For this purpose * * * it is a settled rule that everything may b"e done in virtue of the statute in advancement of the remedy that can be done consistently with any construction.

The reasons for excluding the terms of section 481 from the operation of section 501, would apply with equal force to exclude the provisions of section 482 from its operation, and we so hold.

With respect to compliance with sections 484 and 485, supra, relating to the entry of merchandise, we are of the opinion that there was substantial compliance with both of those sections, within the contemplation of the provision in section 501, supra, under the doctrine announced by us in Dwyer & Wedemann v. United States, 27. Treas. Dec. 261, T. D. 34809. That case was decided more than 30 years ago when the Tariff Act of 1913 was in force. It has been followed in principle in all cases where applicable under every succeeding tariff act.

The Government there urged that the invoice did not contain—

* * * a true and full statement of the time when, the place where, the person from whom the same (the merchandise involved) was purchased or agreed to be purchased, * * *.

as required by paragraph D of said act of 1913, a predecessor of section 481, supra.

In that case we pointed out that paragraph F of section 3, of said act of 1913, corresponding with sections 484 and 485 of the Tariff Act of 1930, provided:

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Related

Florea & Co. v. United States
17 Cust. Ct. 447 (U.S. Customs Court, 1946)

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15 Cust. Ct. 376, 1945 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1034, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/florea-co-v-united-states-cusc-1945.