John L. Westland & Son, Inc. v. United States

32 Cust. Ct. 275, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1716
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedMay 6, 1954
DocketC. D. 1613
StatusPublished

This text of 32 Cust. Ct. 275 (John L. Westland & Son, 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
John L. Westland & Son, Inc. v. United States, 32 Cust. Ct. 275, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1716 (cusc 1954).

Opinion

Ekwall, Judge:

The merchandise involved in this case, described on the invoice as “Fava Beans,” was entered for consumption on [276]*276March 16, 1949, as dried beans, not specially provided for, at 1% cents per pound under paragraph 765 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, T. D. 51802, and the President’s proclamation of March 8, 1949, T. D. 52167. Duty was assessed by the collector at the rate of 3 cents per pound under paragraph 765, as originally enacted, on the ground that the reduced rate provided for in the trade agreement applied only to dried beans entered for consumption during the period from May 1 to August 31, inclusive, in any year. It is claimed in the protest, as amended, first, that duty should have been assessed at the reduced rate under the trade agreement, and, second, that the merchandise is properly dutiable at 1% cents per pound under paragraph 763 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as other vetch seed. The latter claim is the one now relied upon by the plaintiff. The former claim is untenable since the merchandise was not entered during the period when the reduced rate was in force, and is overruled.

The pertinent provisions of the tariff act are as follows:

Par. 765. Beans, not specially provided for, * * * dried, 3 cents per per pound; * * * .
Par. 763. Grass seeds and other forage crop seeds: Alfalfa, 8 cents per pound; alsike clover, 8 cents per pound; crimson clover, 2 cents per pound; red clover, 8 cents per pound; white and ladino clover, 6 cents per pound; sweet clover, 4 cents per pound; clover, not specially provided for, 3 cents per pound; millet, 1 cent per pound; orchard grass, 5 cents per pound; rye grass, 3 cents per pound; timothy, 2 cents per pound; hairy vetch, 3 cents per pound; other vetch, 1 j4 cents per pound; bent-grass (genus agrostis), 40 cents per pound; bluegrass, 5 cents per pound; tall oat, 5 cents per pound; all other grass and forage crop seeds not specially provided for, 2 cents per pound: Provided, That no allowance shall be made for dirt or other impurities in seed of any kind.

The evidence presented by plaintiff in support of its contention consists of a sample of the merchandise (plaintiff’s exhibit 2) and a report of Bernard A. Friedman, plant pathologist of the United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Animal Industry, identifying the merchandise (plaintiff's exhibit 3). The items in the sample appear to be dried brown beans about an inch long and a half inch wide. The report states that the material is “dried fava beans (Vicia faba).”

Defendant called two witnesses: Enoch Soderberg, vice president of Aggler & Musser Seed Co., and W. S. Wilkinson, district manager for the Ferry-Morse Seed Co.

Mr. Soderberg testified that he has been in the wholesale seed business for 39 years and has bought and sold throughout the United States all types of field, vegetable, and flower seeds, including vetch seed. His territory during the greater part of his experience, up to the early forties, was the San Joaquin Valley in California.

The following definitions of “vetch” were read to the witness:

[277]*277[Webster’s New International Dictionary, Unabridged, Second Edition]:
a Any plant of the genus Vida, some species of which are valuable for fodder. The common vetch (V. sativa) of Europe, often called spring vetch, is naturalized in North America; the American vetch, or buffalo pea, is V. americana.
b Any of numerous other plants of related genera, as the chickling vetch, horseshoe vetch, kidney vetch, etc.
[Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, copyrighted 1951 by G. &. C. Merriam Co.]:
Any of a genus (Vida) of plants, some species of which are valuable for fodder.

Mr. Soderberg testified that in bis commercial experience the meaning of the term “vetch” was the same as the dictionary definitions, “For vetch, * * * but not for fava beans.”

The witness identified the merchandise in plaintiff’s exhibit 2 as fava beans and stated that he had dealt with such beans ever since he went into the seed business. In his experience, they are bought and sold as fava or faba beans, broad Windsor beans, or horse beans, but are never sold as vetch. Such beans are shelled and used for human consumption like Lima beans. Vetch is not eaten by humans, but is used as a cover crop, that is, the plants are plowed under for fertilizer, or it is used as a hay crop.

Mr. Soderberg stated that the seed of vetch, as commonly known, runs from one-eighth to five-eighths of an inch in diameter. He identified a sample, marked defendant’s illustrative exhibit A, as common gray vetch, which he said was representative of a type of vetch. The sample contains round, gray-brown seeds, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter. The witness said that there are probably 50 varieties of vetch, but that the fava bean is not one of them. He said that vetch, as known in the trade, consists of such seeds as are valuable for fodder or for crop purposes. He would not accept a shipment of dried fava beans on an order for any kind of vetch seeds.

The court read to the witness the following definition of “vetch” from Funk & Wagnalls College Standard Dictionary, copyrighted in 1947 and 1950:

Any of a genus (Vida) of climbing herbaceous vines of the bean family, especially the common broad bean (V. faba) grown for fodder.

The witness did not agree with this definition from a commercial point of view on the ground that the horse-bean plant is not a vine, but a straight growing plant. He said that the fava bean is chiefly used for human consumption, but is sometimes used as a manure crop, but never as animal fodder in this country. The type of fava bean used for manure is a small bean, called the bell bean.

W. S. Wilkinson testified that he has been with the Ferry-Morse Seed Co. since April 1929, and previously had been a seed specialist for the California Department of Agriculture. He said that he is familiar with vetch seed, of which there are a great many varieties. [278]*278The ones referred to in the trade as vetch are primarily used as green manure crops, cover crops, or hay or forage crops. Merchandise such as plaintiff's exhibit 2 is called the broad Windsor bean, horse bean, fava bean, or English horse bean, and is not bought and sold as vetch. He would not consider it acceptable on an order for any type of vetch seed.

The witness explained that in the trade vetch refers to most of those varieties of Vida which are vinelike, have tendrils, and are climbing, and which are adapted to use as a green manure or as a forage crop. The merchandise involved herein is a specialized type used for human consumption as a vegetable item, or, in the dried form, as a coffee substitute. It is rarely used as a forage crop because of the small yield. However, one type developed from the fava bean, a small bean, the size of a large pea, called the bell pea or bean, is used for cover crop or green manure purposes.

The witness did not agree with the definition of vetch in Funk & Wagnalls College Standard Dictionary, supra, on the ground that the broad bean is not a climbing vine.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
32 Cust. Ct. 275, 1954 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1716, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/john-l-westland-son-inc-v-united-states-cusc-1954.