Quon Quon Co. v. United States

39 Cust. Ct. 184
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Quon Quon Co. v. United States. Read the opinion of the Court — 41 Cust. Ct. 178
United States Customs Court·Decided October 17, 1957·No. C. D. 1924·Published

Opinion

Mollison, Judge:

This case is before us on a motion for rehearing filed by counsel for the defendant. Our decision in the matter is reported in Quon Quon Company v. United States, 39 Cust. Ct. 76, C. D. 1908. The subject matter of the protests is imported woven rattancore table tops, which had been assessed with duty under the provision for baskets of wood in paragraph 411 of the Tariff Act of 1930 and were claimed to be properly dutiable under the provision for parts of furniture, wholly or in chief value of wood, in paragraph 412 of the said act, as modified. Decision was in favor of the protest claim.

In the memorandum filed by counsel for the defendant in support of the motion for rehearing herein, three grounds therefor are stated, all involving questions of law. We find no merit in any of the grounds.

The first ground stated is that the provision for baskets of wood in paragraph 411 is an eo nomine provision encompassing all baskets, regardless of their use. In our decision herein, C. D. 1908, we noted that, in judicially defining the common meaning of the term “basket” in United States v. Byrnes & Co., 11 Ct. Cust. Appls. 68, T. D. 38728, our appellate court defined it as a vessel, made of certain materials, in a certain manner, and used for certain purposes. We said, therefore, that the term as defined by our appellate court has a use connotation. In other words, in order to come within the common meaning of the term “basket,” as defined by our appellate court, an article would have to respond to all of the elements of the definition, including the element relating to its use. Quite obviously, our appellate court included the element of use in order to distinguish between baskets and many articles made of woven flexible materials having an appearance similar to that of baskets, but which are, in fact, not baskets. In Morimura Bros. v. United States, 8 Ct. Cust. Appls. 211, T. D. 37438, the inclusion of use as one of the criteria in determining whether an article was or was not a basket was indicated when the court enumerated the elements of a basket as “size, shape, appearance, method of construction, and practicable uses” [italics added] and further indicated that such articles must be “serviceable for ordinary basket uses, namely, for ‘holding, protecting, or carrying commodities’ ” [italics added].

Consequently, if the term “baskets” is an eo nomine designation, it is one which in its common meaning, as judicially defined, includes an element of use. In this respect, it is like, if not identical with, what have long been recognized and called eo nomine designations suggesting use, or eo nomine designations by use, that is to say, designations by name which either on their face or elsewhere make use a [186]*186determining or limiting factor. United States v. H. Reeve Angel & Co., Inc., 33 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 114, C. A. D. 324; United States v. Nippon Co. et al., 32 C. C. P. A. (Customs) 164, C. A. D. 303. Here, the limitation as to use does not appear on the face of the term “baskets,” but appears elsewhere, that is to say, in the common meaning of the term, as judicially defined, which is, of course, binding upon this court.

However, counsel for the defendant cites and quotes certain language appearing in the Byrnes decision which counsel construes as indicating that our appellate court, in its application of the definition to the merchandise there involved, indicated that use was not a factor in the determination of whether or not a given article was or was not a basket.

That language is as follows:

While the appearance of the exhibit indicates that it may well, by reason of a particular use to which it may be applied, be called a tray, we are of opinion it is, nevertheless, a basket in its material and structure, and clearly within the common meaning of the word.

We think the meaning ascribed to the foregoing language by counsel for the defendant is a distorted one, and note that the language is quoted out of context. We see no reason to assume, as counsel for the defendant seems to do, that our appellate court would carefully define a basket as a vessel having certain uses and then ignore part of its own definition in applying it in a specific instance, and we do not think it did so in the Byrnes case. We think the foregoing language has a meaning compatible with the court’s own definition of the term “basket.” The merchandise involved in the Byrnes case was trays. The uses of trays are in some cases, although obviously not in all cases, similar to those of baskets, that is to say, they are both used at times or in particular instances for holding, protecting, or carrying commodities.

Our appellate court laid down a very carefully worded definition of the common meaning of the term, having four elements, to wit, that baskets are—

(1) vessels of varying capacity,
(2) made of flexible materials, such as osiers, cane, twigs, and rushes,
(3) commonly interwoven and bound at the top,
(4) used for the purpose of holding, protecting, or carrying any commodity.

Immediately after formulating that definition, our appellate court used the language, hereinbefore quoted, and relied upon by counsel for the defendant, but went on to say:

* * * We think it [the exhibit in the Byrnes case] is within the provisions of paragraph 175 a basket of bamboo, and is more specifically therein provided for than in the provision for manufactures of wood in paragraph 176. The bottom is [187]*187interwoven, as baskets commonly are, and it is adapted and used to hold, protect, or carry suitable commodities that may be placed therein. There is no denominative provision in the tariff act for trays. [Italics added.]

We think, therefore, that the meaning our appellate court intended to convey, and which is in consonance with its definition, is that the particular articles involved in the Byrnes case, which might bear the name “trays,” nevertheless, met all of the four requirements of baskets, and, hence, were baskets under the common meaning of the term.

Our appellate court did not hold that all trays were baskets, but only that the trays involved in the Byrnes case were, as it said, “clearly within the common meaning of that word,” which it had just carefully defined.

We think the foregoing also serves to demonstrate the error of defendant’s second ground for rehearing, also said to be based upon the common meaning of the term “basket,” as laid down in the opinion in the Byrnes case. Counsel for defendant describes the merchandise therein as a flat circular article of interwoven bamboo, abóut 12% inches inside diameter, with an edge or side of the same construction about five-eighths of an inch high, and states:

That merchandise was held to come within the common meaning of the term “basket”, as defined therein, and a fortiore [sic] the merchandise at bar comes within that definition.

We do not see why, because the trays involved in the Byrnes

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Quon Quon Co. v. United States, 39 Cust. Ct. 184 (cusc 1957).

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Related

Morimura Bros v. United States
8 Ct. Cust. 211 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1917)
United States v. Byrnes & Co.
11 Ct. Cust. 68 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1921)
Quon Quon Co. v. United States
39 Cust. Ct. 76 (U.S. Customs Court, 1957)