Koscherak Bros. v. United States

8 Cust. Ct. 300, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 50
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedApril 29, 1942
DocketC. D. 625
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 8 Cust. Ct. 300 (Koscherak Bros. 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
Koscherak Bros. v. United States, 8 Cust. Ct. 300, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 50 (cusc 1942).

Opinion

Oliver, Presiding Judge:

The merchandise involved in the suits at bar consists of certain glassware which was assessed with duty at the rate of 50 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 218 (f) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended by the trade agreement with Czechoslovakia, published in T. D. 49458, and is claimed to be properly dutiable at the rate of 45 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 218 (d), as amended by the same trade agreement.

The competing provisions as set forth in T. D. 49458, supra, read as follows:

Tariff Act of 1930 paragraph Description of articles Rate of duty
218 (d) All glassware commercially known as plated or cased glass, composed of two or more layers of clear, opaque, colored, or semitranslucent glass, or combination of the same. 45% ad val.
218 (f) Table and kitchen articles and utensils, and all articles of every description not specially provided for, composed wholly or in chief value of glass, blown or partly blown in the mold or otherwise, or colored, cut, engraved, etched, frosted, gilded, ground (except such grinding as is necessary for fitting stoppers or for purposes othor than ornamentation), painted, printed in any manner, sand-blasted, silvered, stained, or decorated or ornamented in any manner, whether filled or unfilled, or whether their contents be dutiable or free, except articles primarily designed for ornamental purposes, decorated chiefly by engraving and valued at not less than $8 each. 50% ad val.

[302]*302A sample of the merchandise in question is in evidence. It consists of a cordial glass. Its base and stem are of clear glass, the base being approximately 2 inches in diameter and the stem approximately 4 inches long. The bowl is ruby color, about 1% inches in diameter.

No testimony was offered by either party, the case having been submitted for decision on the following stipulation (R. 2):

Mr. Mandell. * * * In order to present this issue to the court I am offering to stipulate with the Government that the merchandise that is described on the invoices, particularly the invoices of a shipper named Kossuch Janos, and described on the invoice as cordials 9784, consist of an article that is composed wholly or in chief value of glass, that is, an article of stemware, and is an article chiefly used on the table, and is composed wholly or in chief value of glass that is blown or partly blown in the mold or otherwise. It is further stipulated that this article, item 9784, which is representative of this class of merchandise, is produced by a process known as plating or casing, and it is composed of two or more layers, of clear, opaque, colored, or translucent glass, or a combination of the same.
Mr. FitzGibbon. That is agreed to.

It will be observed that the facts agreed upon do not precisely cover the language of the two provisions under consideration, but it is evident from the argument presented by both counsel in their briefs that it is the intention of the parties to present this case on the question whether the provision for “table * * * articles and utensils * * * ” provided for in the amended paragraph 218 (f), under which assessment was made, is more specific than the provision in the amended paragraph 218 (d), for “cased glass” as claimed by plaintiffs, and our consideration of this case will be confined to that issue. In other words, we are accepting this stipulation as though it established as a matter of fact:

(1) That the merchandise in question is a table article or utensil, composed wholly or in chief value of glass, blown or partly blown in the mold or otherwise (paragraph 218 (d)) and

(2) That it is glassware commercially known as plated or cased glass, composed of two or more layers of clear, opaque, colored, or semitranslucent glass, or combination of the same (paragraph 218 (f)).

The article in question is thus provided for in the two provisions of paragraph 218, hereinabove quoted, as amended by the treaty with Czechoslovakia, T. D. 49458, supra.

In their brief, counsel for plaintiffs argue that the modifications to paragraph 218 of the Tariff Act of 1930, made in the trade agreement with Czechoslovakia, T. D. 49458, supra, clearly indicate an intention to make the provisions of subdivision (d) all embracive so as to include every item of glassware provided for therein, irrespective of any of the other provisions of paragraph 218, as amended. Such contention, in our judgment, is without foundation. Reference to the [303]*303press release (Department of State, press releases, publication No. Ill) issued at the time of publication of the text of this trade agreement reveals no statement by the officials who had charge of the negotiations and preparation of the agreement itself concerning the provisions of subdivisions (d) and (f) of paragraph 218 in their amended form. Hence, it is fair to assume that whatever the legislative intent was in enacting those provisions, it must be determined from the action of the Congress that formulated the provisions in the tariff act itself. Especially is that true in the present case since the language of the two provisions under consideration is the same, so far as the issue herein is concerned, in both the trade agreement with Czechoslovakia and in the Tariff Act of 1930. The only changes in the trade agreement are in the rates of duty, which have been reduced. We have carefully reviewed the hearings held before the Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives preparatory to the enactment of the Tariff Acts of 1922 and 1930, as well as the Summary of Tariff Information relating to both of those tariff acts, and have been unable to find anything to warrant a conclusion that the two provisions in question are to be construed other than as written and following the usual rules of construction for tariff classification of merchandise. The question presented herein is the relative specificity of the two provisions hereinabove quoted.

The term “Table and kitchen articles and utensils” in paragraph 218 (f) is somewhat similar to the term “household utensils” in paragraph 339 and to the term “agricultural implements” in paragraph 1604. Their grammatical construction is the same. The merchandise provided for in all is determined by use. In the case of Frank P. Dow Co., Inc. v. United States (21 C. C. P. A. 282, T. D. 46816), the Court of Customs and Patent Appeals held that the provision for household utensils in paragraph 339 includes all articles chiefly or principally used in the household. Similarly, in the case of United States v. Boker & Co. (6 Ct. Cust. Appls. 243, T. D. 35472), our appellate court held that agricultural implements, for tariff purposes, are such as are employed in the pursuit of agriculture. In applying the principle of “use” in the Boker case, supra, the court said:

AH these considerations imply and necessitate that the use of the implement must determine its classification whether or not an agricultural implement within the paragraph and that that use, and the determinative fact, is chief use.

Following the decisions in the Dow case, supra, and the Boker case, supra,

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Bluebook (online)
8 Cust. Ct. 300, 1942 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 50, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koscherak-bros-v-united-states-cusc-1942.