Saxonville Mills v. Russell

116 U.S. 13, 6 S. Ct. 237, 29 L. Ed. 554, 1885 U.S. LEXIS 1885
Supreme Court of the United States·Decided December 14, 1885·No. 81·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

Mr. Justice Matthews

delivered the opinion of the court. After stating the facts in the language reported above, he continued :

The duties chargeable upon the importations in question were levied and collected under § 1 of the act of March 2, 1867, “ to provide increased revenue from imported wpol and for other purposes.” 14 Stat. 559. It provides that “from and after the passage of this act, in lieu of the duties now imposed by law on the articles mentioned and embraced in this section, there shall be levied, collected, and paid on all unmanufactured wool, hair of the alpaca, goat, and other like animals, imported from, foreign countries, the duties hereinafter provided.” For the purpose of fixing the duties to be charged thereon, the articles mentioned'are divided into three classes, as follows: Class 1-, clothing wool; class 2, combing wools; class 3, carpet wools and other similar wools, the last being “such as Donskoi, native South American, Cordova, Yalparaiso, native Smyrna, and including all such wools of like character as have been heretofore usually imported into the United States from Turkey, Greece, Egypt, Syria, and elsewhere.” The importations. affected by this suit were of this class. It was further provided, that, “ upon wools of the third class, the value whereof at the last port or place whence exported inte the United States; excluding charges in such port, shall be twelve cents or less per pound, the duty shall be three cents per pound; upon wools of the sarnie class, the value whereof at the last port or place whence exported to the United States. *18 excluding charges in such port, shall exceed twelve cents per pound, the duty shall be six cents per pound.”

By the act of June 6, 1872, 17 Stat. 230, § 2, the duties on wool, imposed by the act of 1867, among other things, were reduced ten per centum of such duties.

As the value of the wool in question, at the last port or place whence exported into the United States, excluding charges in such port at the time of shipment, was less than twelve cents per .pound, under these provisions of the law, standing alone, it would be subject to a duty of but three cents per pound, and it is contended by the plaintiff in error that the case is governed exclusively by these sections. But as the wool was bought in Rosario, and was shipped from there to the United States, and was invoiced there and entered at the custom house in Boston at the. price paid for it in the currency and weight in which it was bought, which, upon being reduced to United States currency and weight, showed the cost to be above twelve cents per pound, it is contended on the part of the collector, that it was properly chargeable according to that value, with the duty actually exacted of six cents per pound.

This conclusion is based upon a proviso, occurring in § 7 of the act of March 3, 1865, “ amendatory of certain acts imposing duties upon foreign importations,” 13 Stat. 491, 493, and repeated in § 9 of the act of July 28, 1866, “to protect the revenue, and for other purposes,” 14 Stat. 328, 330. The first of these sections is as follows:

“ Sec. 7. And he it further enacted, That in all cases where there is or shall be imposed any ad valorem rate of duty on any goods, wares, or merchandise imported into the United States, and in all cases where the duty imposed by law shall be regulated by, or directed to be estimated or based upon, the value of the square yard, or of any specified quantity or parcel of such goods, wares, or merchandise, it shall be the duty of the collector within whose district the same shall be imported or entered to cause the actual market value or wholesale price thereof, at the period of the exportation to the United States, in the principal markets of the country from which the same shall have been imported into the United States, to be appraised, *19 and such appraised value shall be considered the value upon which duty shall be assessed. That it shall be lawful for the owner, consignee, or agent of any goods, wares, or merchandise which shall have been actually purchased, or procured otherwise than by purchase, at the time, and not afterwards, when he shall produce his original invoice, or invoices, to the collector, and make and verify his written entry of his goods, wares, or merchandise, as provided by section thirty-six of the act of March two, seventeen hundred and ninety-nine, entitled “ An Act to regulate the collection of duties on imports and tonnage,”- to make such addition in the entry to the cost or value given in the invoice as in his opinion may-raise the same to the actual market value or wholesale price of such goods, wares, or merchandise, at the period of exportation to the United States, in the principal markets of the country from which the sajne shall have been imported; and it shall be the duty of the collector within whose district the same may be imported or entered to cause such actual market value or wholesale price to be appraised in accordance with the provisions of existing laws, and if such appraised value shall exceed by ten per centum or more the value so declared in the entry, then, in addition to the duties imposed by law on the same, there shall be levied, collected, and paid a duty of twenty per centum ad valorem on such appraised value: Provided, That the duty shall not be assessed upon an amount less than the invoice or entered value, any act of Congress to the contrary notwithstanding.”

The other section is as follows :

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Saxonville Mills v. Russell, 116 U.S. 13, 6 S. Ct. 237, 29 L. Ed. 554, 1885 U.S. LEXIS 1885 (1885).

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