Lynch v. United States

24 Cust. Ct. 4, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1869
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedDecember 28, 1949
DocketC. D. 1200
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 24 Cust. Ct. 4 (Lynch 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
Lynch v. United States, 24 Cust. Ct. 4, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1869 (cusc 1949).

Opinion

Rao, Judge:

The instant protest raises the question of the proper classification, under the Tariff Act of 1930, of certain articles invoiced as—

Twenty Cartons, Magazines
4000 Copies Bizarre
December Issue

The collector of customs assessed duty thereon at the rate of 20 per centum ad valorem, pursuant to the provisions of paragraph 1410 of said act, as modified by the trade agreement with the United Kingdom, 74 Treas. Dec. 253, T. D. 49753, as pamphlets other than those of bona fide foreign authorship. It was claimed in the protest that the merchandise is free of duty under paragraph 1726 of said act, as periodicals. By amendment to the protest, it was alternatively claimed that the merchandise is dutiable at only 7}i per centum ad valorem, pursuant to the provisions of said paragraph 1410, as modified by said trade agreement, as printed matter, pamphlets, or books of bona fide foreign authorship.

It appears that the involved publication is a species of satire on women’s attire. With certain exceptions hereinafter noted, it was written, composed, edited, and produced by one J. S. Coutts, a citizen of Australia, who had the magazine printed in Canada and thereafter caused it to be imported into the United States. Mr. Coutts testified that it was his intention to publish the magazine in monthly editions but, owing to the then-existing shortage of paper, it was not feasible to [6]*6carry out such intention. Instead, he was able to publish only three subsequent issues. These were printed in New York and came out at varying intervals during the year 1946. Thereafter, the project was abandoned.

A magazine which the witness stated was one of the 4,000 copies imported was received in evidence as plaintiff’s exhibit 1. Although the invoice indicates the date of this magazine to be December 1945, whereas the printed date appearing thereon is January 1946, nevertheless, the witness affirmed that exhibit 1 was in fact included in the instant importation. Furthermore, he stated that the imported magazines constituted the first issue of this publication, despite the fact that exhibit 1 bears the printed legend, “Yol. 2.”

Paragraph 1410 of the Tariff Act of 1930, as modified by the trade agreement with the United Kingdom, 74 Treas. Dec. 253, T. D. 49753, provides as follows:

Tariff Act of 1930; paragraph Description of article Rate of duty
1410 Unbound books of all kinds, bound books of all kinds except those bound wholly or in part in leather, sheets or printed pages of books bound wholly or in part in leather, pamphlets, music in books or sheets, and printed matter, all the foregoing not specially provided for (except unbound or bound prayer books and sheets or printed pages of prayer books; except tourist literature containing historical, geographic, time table, travel, hotel, or similar information, chiefly with respect to places or travel facilities outside the continental United States; and except diaries):
If of bona fide foreign authorship_ 7)4% ad val.
All other_ 20% ad val.

Paragraph 1726 of the Tariff Act of 1930, upon which the claim for free entry is predicated, contains the following provision:

Newspapers, * * * and periodicals; but the term “periodicals” as herein used shall be understood to embrace only unbound or paper-covered publications issued within six months of the time of entry, devoted to current literature of the day, or containing current literature as a predominant feature, and issued regularly at stated periods, as weekly, monthly, or quarterly, and bearing the date of issue.

It is at once apparent that Congress did not intend to accord free entry to every publication which might fall within the common meaning of the term “periodical.” Preferential tariff treatment is to be accorded to those only which meet the specific requirements of that term as set forth in the paragraph. To fall within its scope, the publication must be unbound or paper covered, issued within 6 [7]*7months of the time of entry, devoted to current literature of the day, or containing current literature as a predominant feature, issued regularly at stated periods, and it must bear the date of issue. If any single one of these characteristics is lacking, the provisions of the paragraph may not be invoked.

Issue is joined between respective counsel herein over the questions of whether the instant merchandise is devoted to current literature of the day or contains current literature as a predominant feature, and whether the magazine was issued regularly at stated periods. With respect to the first of these two questions, there is sufficient authority to support the contention of the plaintiff that this publication is in fact devoted to current literature.

Paragraph 1726, supra, in substantially its present form, has been a part of all tariff legislation enacted since 1890 and the phrase “containing current literature,” appearing therein, has frequently been construed.

In the case of Alex. Murphy & Co. v. United States, T. D. 20037, G. A. 4259, decided under the Tariff Act of 1897, the question for determination was whether certain law periodicals were literature within the meaning of paragraph 621 of that act. In holding that they were, and that therefore they contained “current literature,” the Board of General Appraisers (now the United States Customs Court) stated:

The term literature, broadly used, would cover all written or printed productions of the human mind from the story of Little Red Riding Hood through fiction, belles lettres, art, literature, medical literature, etc., up to the most-abstruse scientific expositions.
“In a restricted sense,” says the Standard Dictionary, “literature is the portion of literary productions that excludes the positive sciences.” But we have no reason to suppose that the term is used in a restricted sense in the tariff.

In Richards et al. v. United States, 91 Fed. 516, it was held that a fashion periodical, consisting of notes upon, and a letter concerning, ladies’ current fashions, was “clearly enough, current literature of the day, to make the periodical free” under paragraph 562 of the Tariff Act of 1894. See also P. H. Petry & Co. v. United States, T. D. 19453, G. A. 4170.

In the fight of these authorities, and in view of the fact that plaintiff’s exhibit 1 is devoted entirely to current comments on women’s current fashions, it is plain that it contains current literature as a predominant feature.

We come now to a consideration of whether the involved magazine was “issued regularly at stated periods.” In this connection, it was established that, although the editor of the magazine had intended to publish it in monthly editions, his purpose could not be fulfilled because of a paper shortage, and that, therefore, the magazine was [8]*8printed on only four occasions during 1946, but not at regular intervals. The paragraph specifically requires that in order for a publication to be deemed a periodical it must be “issued regularly

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Philstan Trading, Ltd. v. United States
45 Cust. Ct. 45 (U.S. Customs Court, 1960)
Carey & Skinner, Inc. v. United States
42 C.C.P.A. 86 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1954)
Carey & Skinner, Inc. v. United States
31 Cust. Ct. 263 (U.S. Customs Court, 1953)
Tice v. United States
24 Cust. Ct. 420 (U.S. Customs Court, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
24 Cust. Ct. 4, 1949 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1869, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lynch-v-united-states-cusc-1949.