Tilge v. United States

2 Ct. Cust. 149, 1911 WL 19861, 1911 CCPA LEXIS 143
Court of Customs and Patent Appeals·Decided May 31, 1911·No. No. 274·Published·Cited by 8 cases

Opinion

Per Curiam::

This is on a petition for a rehearing. This case, decided April 10, 1911 (1 Ct. Cust. Appls., 462; T. D. 31507), was, [150]*150as appears in tbe decision thereof, “argued before this court and submitted with the case of Loeb & Schoenfeld (suit 69), previously decided (1 Ct. Cust. Appls., 385; T. D. 31479). In that case we reviewed the law applicable to both cases.”

The petition recites:

1. The decision of the court lays down the proposition that a general appraiser has no jurisdiction, to reappraise any of the merchandise on an invoice, unless he has personally examined the particular package or packages (at least 1 of every 10 on the invoice) that have been designated by the collector to be sent to the public stores, in accordance with section 2901 of the Revised Statutes.
The court holds that there is no permissible legal substitute for this-examination, and that no samples of the imported merchandise, however clearly proven as representing it or as being a part of it, can avail to give the general appraiser jurisdiction over the invoice.

It is evident that counsel has misapprehended the scope of the decision in the present case. What was decided is determined by the question at issue in the case. As was said by Lord Manners in Revell v. Hussey (2 Ball & B., 286):

It is always unsatisfactory to abstract altogether the reasoning of the court in any reported cáse from the facts to which this reasoning is meant to apply; it has a tendency only to misrepresent one judge and to mislead another.

In the Loeb & Schoenfeld case the whole importation was the subject of appraisement and the appeals therefrom. It was conceded and the board found that—

One package in every 10 and 1 package from every invoice was sent to the public stores, and the merchandise therefrom, or sufficient samples of it, was before the local appraiser, the general appraiser, and the board of three general appraisers.

The board further found:

It does conclusively appear that a large number of the items upon the invoices here under consideration were not contained in the public-stores cases, nor was merchandise of like patterns and designs.

Upon this record, involving the entire importation, the importers tendered the issue and made claim that it was not sufficient for the board of three general appraisers to examine the public-store cases legally required under section 29.01 of the Revised Statutes, but that in view of the finding of the board that some of the importation was not represented by the merchandise or samples thereof in the public-store cases the reappraisement proceeding by the board was invalid for want of jurisdiction.

This court held that in such cases, if the reappraisement board examined the public-store cases only, which the record showed it did, there was a valid reappraisement.

The Tilge case was likewise an appeal to reappraisement involving the whole importation. The court said:

Indeed, tbe samples in this case, as shown by the record, were not even selected or taken from the importation by the United States consul, a Government official, but were produced at his office by a member of the exporting firm with a statement that [151]*151they were samples of the merchandise covered by the invoice then being consulated. There was no regard had as to the statutory requirements relating to the number of packages from which these samples should he taken. There was no determination by any appraising officer whether or not the samples had of the designated packages were sufficiently representative of the designated packages. Indeed, the general appraiser returned the contrary. * * * We do not think it can in any sense be held a compliance with the law that the collector shall select a certain number of samples of the importation and designate these for examination while in the customs custody. The law admits of no substitute processes other than it provides; but, as we have held, is mandatory in its provisions.

The court did not hold that an appraising officer had no jurisdiction to appraise any of the merchandise of an invoice unless he had examined the public store packages, nor that samples, a part of the importation, can not, when duly authenticated, be accepted by appraising officers for jurisdictional purposes.

The court said:

The law admits of no substitute processes other than it provides.

A glance at the statutes, decisions, and regulations will reveal that the law does provide other substitute processes. What was held was that the one adopted in the Tilge case was not one of these.

We held in effect that section 2901 of the Revised Statutes is mandatory and not directory, and in so holding we considered the case in line with decisions of other courts where similar questions have arisen. That section prescribes in part the procedure -of all officers performing appraisement functions. That all appraisers, and those performing such duties, local and general, acting singly or by boards, are officers constituted under and whose powers-and procedure are created, limited and defined by statute is undeniable. Dooley v. United States (182 U. S., 222), Schillinger v. United States (155 U. S., 163, 166), Anglo-Californian Bank v. United States (175 U. S., 37), Anglo-Californian Bank v. Secretary of Treasury (166 U. S., 722), Aufmordt v. Hedden (137 U. S., 310, 324), Nichols v. United States (7 Wall., 122, 126), D. M. Ferry & Co. v. United States (85 Fed. Rep., 550), Boswell v. United States (9 How., 336), Thatcher v. Powell (6 Wheaton, 119), Sheby v. Bacon (10 How., 56), Sheldon v. Sill (8 How., 441), Greely’s Administrator v. Burgess (59 U. S., 18 How., 413, 416), Oelberman v. Merritt (123 U. S., 356), Stairs v. Peaslee (18 How., 521), Burgess v. Converse (2 Curt., C. C., 216), Origet v. Hedden (155 U. S., 238), Cheatham v. United States (92 U. S., 85), United States v. Beer (150 Fed. Rep., 566), United States v. Loeb (107 Fed. Rep., 692), Ex parte Clark (87 Cal., 640), In re Stevens (83 Cal., 322; 17 Am. St. Rep., 252), Furgeson v. Jones (17 Or., 204, 11 Apls. St., Rep., 814), Tyler v. Reynolds (53 Iowa, 146), Shearer v. Weaver (56 Iowa, 578), Keegan v. Geraghty (101 Ill., 26, 39), In re Moore (14 R. I., 38), Freeman v. Strong (6 Dana, 282, 32 Am. St. Dec., 70), Rachel v. Emerson (6 Mon. B., 280), Small v. [152]*152Small (2 Bush, 46), Mendall v. Rickets (6 Marsh, J. J., 592), Sanborn v. Bellows (22 N. H., 473), Carlton v. Washington Ins. Co. (35 N. H., 166), Smith v. Fowle (12 Wend., 9), Emburg v. Conner (3 N. Y., 511, 53 Am. St. Dec., 325), Gunn v. Howell (27 Ala., 675), Foster v. Glazener (27 Ala., 396), Barry v. Patterson (3 Humph., 314), Smith v. Rice (11 Mass., 506), Cook v. Darling (18 Pick., 393), Sears v. Terry (26 Conn., 285), Long v. Hewitt (44 Iowa, 365), Windsor v, McVeigh (93 U. S., 274), Edwards v. Bates County (117 Fed. Rep.. 529), Driggers v.

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