Murray v. United States

7 Cust. Ct. 160, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1368
CourtUnited States Customs Court
DecidedNovember 28, 1941
DocketC. D. 560
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 7 Cust. Ct. 160 (Murray 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
Murray v. United States, 7 Cust. Ct. 160, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1368 (cusc 1941).

Opinion

Keefe, Judge:

This is an action to recover alleged excess of duties exacted by the collector at New York on a shipment of linseed oil fatty acids from Rotterdam, Holland. Duty was assessed thereon as an unenumerated manufactured article at 20 per centum ad valorem under paragraph 1558 of the Tariff Act of 1930. The plaintiff claims that the merchandise is raw or unmanufactured and therefore dutiable [161]*161at only 10 per centum ad valorem under the same paragraph, or that it is dutiable at the same rate as a waste under paragraph 1555, the latter claim not being stressed.

At the trial, three depositions were admitted in evidence as exhibits 1, 2, and 3, two of which consist of descriptions of the method of production used by the manufacturer, and the other identifying the merchandise at bar as the product of such manufacturer. The plaintiff called two chemical engineers who testified concerning the method used to produce the merchandise and as to whether or not they considered that it was a manufacturing process. The Government likewise introduced two chemical experts whose testimony covered the same field as that of plaintiff’s witnesses. It was agreed between the parties hereto that the description of the manner in which the goods were processed was as follows:

Linseed Oil is mixed with about 25% water and is heated for 36 hours in a closed tank (with only a small outlet for steam), while adding 1% acid decomposing oil, which acts as catalyst. After about 36 hours the steam is shut off and the tank is left undisturbed for a few hours. The glycerin water, which has a greater specific gravity than the fatty acids, settles on the bottom of the tank, while the fatty acids float on' top. The glycerin water is now tapped off and the fatty acids are tapped (drawn-off) into the fatty acid tanks in order to thereupon be transferred into barrels or drums for shipment. This is the only operation to which the oil is subjected.

. Plaintiff’s first witness testified that the method of production used by the manufacturer, as appearing in the depositions, was known to him as the Twitch ell process; that the components of crude linseed oil are glycerin, linseed fatty acids, and minor amounts of protein with some water; that linseed oil occurs in nature in ripened flaxseed; that in the immature seed glycerin is first formed and then the fatty acids; that in the process of .ripening the two basic hydrocarbon radicals are united by oxygen through a natural reaction known as esterification, forming linseed oil; that, after extraction from the ripened flaxseed, the raw linseed oil consists of fatty acid radicals and glycerol radicals, neither of which can exist except in combination with each other; that raw linseed oil is the subject of a continuous hydrolysis when stored, as well as to a continuous esterification, the reverse of hydrolysis; that therefore there .is a constant interchange going on with different molecules of the linseed oil taking part and, although the esterification and hydrolysis processes tend to balance each other, all of the fatty acid radicals in linseed oil, over a period of time, have existed as free fatty acids; that upon storage of linseed oil the basic hydrocarbon radicals are separated into glycerin and fatty acids to the extent of 1 or 2 per centum of fatty acids; that in the separation thereof the fatty acid radicals pick up hydrogen from water to form fatty acids and the glycerol radicals pick up hydroxyls or hydrogen from water to form glycerin, the reagents effecting the [162]*162chemical change remain substantially unchanged although the result is that the free fatty acids and the glycerin are separated; that such natural process was too slow for commercial purposes as it would take, years to develop considerable’ quantities; and that the process used by the manufacturer merely hastens the hydrolysis which would have occurred naturally in time. The witness admitted, however, that raw linseed oil contains little or no glycerin as such and only a small percentage of fatty acids as such; that the majority of fatty acids are chemically combined with the glycerin under the designation of “fatty acid radicals” and “glycerol radicals,” neither of which can exist in the free state; that the fatty acids combined with the glycerin in linseed oil exist as a distinct entity, and as a different chemical compound known as glyceride ester; and that, to obtain the fatty acid from the linseed oil, it is necessary to split up such chemical compounds.

The witness further testified that hydrolysis is a reaction taking place between a raw linseed oil compound and water resulting in a new product not existing as such in raw linseed oil; that the components of water, H20, liberate the acid and alcohol in the case of esters and the water splits up and becomes something else; that 'the product formed by hydrolysis has many of the characteristics of raw linseed oil as well as different ones which, with its similarities, make it a valuable product; that the linseed oil and the fatty acids are both valuable for their drying characteristics, although the fatty acids are used for drying purposes in another connection than linseed oil, which, unlike fatty acids, is valuable as a vehicle in paint. Inasmuch as the fatty acids exist in the oil in the form of acid radicals and the glycerin as glycerol radicals, and by means of the methods used by the manufacturer were obtained in their free state, the witness was of the opinion that nothing new had been created by the chemical reaction. He admitted, however, that, although the differences are due to the acid radicals being combined with glycerol radicals in the one case and with hydrogen in the other, the fatty acid radicals are chemically combined with glycerol radicals to form linseed oil and that linseed oil is a different chemical entity from either the fatty acid radical or the glycerol radical and also that the fatty acids and glycerin obtained by hydrolysis are different entities.

Plaintiff’s second witness also testified along the same lines that the fatty acids produced by the Twitchell process are the same fatty acids occurring in nature.

Defendant’s first witness testified that his company uses practically the same method as used herein to produce linseed oil fatty acids; that the Twitchell method is known as a saponification process, whereby a soap or fatty acid and glycerin is formed as the result of the reaction of an oil with either water or any alkali; that in linseed oil there are [163]*163the components for making fatty acid but they are not present as an' acid; that there is present in linseed oil a glyceride of fatty acids, without which there is no linseed oil; that such glyceride is composed of glycerol radicals and fatty acid radicals, which exist separately in theory only; that when starting with a molecule of linseed oil, after hydrolysis, there appears three groups of fatty acids and one molecule of glycerin; that in such process a chemical reaction takes place resulting in the creation of new chemicals and in such reaction there is a rearrangement of the molecular formation resulting in the formation of fatty acids and glycerin; that by hydrolysis the addition of the hydrogen atom to the fatty acid radical creates a new chemical entity entirely separate and independent of the constituents of raw linseed oil; and that the fatty acids known as such in the trade, in use under the name of linseed fatty acids, consist of a mixture of various types of fatty acids which have certain properties when combined.

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Bluebook (online)
7 Cust. Ct. 160, 1941 Cust. Ct. LEXIS 1368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-v-united-states-cusc-1941.