United States v. Cochran

3 Ct. Cust. 57, 1912 CCPA LEXIS 52
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMarch 20, 1912
DocketNo. 552; No. 553
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 3 Ct. Cust. 57 (United States v. Cochran) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Customs and Patent Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Cochran, 3 Ct. Cust. 57, 1912 CCPA LEXIS 52 (ccpa 1912).

Opinion

Martin, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

The merchandise involved in this case consists of women’s untrimmed hats, made by sewing into concentric form certain braids [58]*58composed of strands of imitation horsehair. The importation was made under the tariff act of 1897. The articles were unenumerated by the act, and the collector classified them by similitude with partly manufactured silk wearing apparel, under paragraph 390. Duty was accordingly assessed thereon at 60 per cent ad valorem.

The importers filed their protest to this assessment, and contended, among other claims, that the goods were dutiable at 50 per cent ad va-lorem by similitude with cotton wearing apparel, under paragraph 314; or at 3 5 per cent ad valorem by similitude with untrimmed hats of straw, under paragraph 409. This protest was heard upon testimony by the Board of General Appraisers, and was overruled. The importers thereupon appealed the case to the United States Circuit Court, Southern District of New York. Additional testimony was taken in that court; and upon consideration the court reversed the decision of the board, holding that the articles in question were not dutiable at 60 per cent ad valorem by similitude with silk wearing apparel, but instead were dutiable at 35 per cent ad valorem by similitude with hats of straw.

The Government now applies to this court for a reversal of that decision, no longer however contending for the collector’s assessment by similitude with silk wearing apparel, but now contending for a classification by similitude with cotton wearing,apparel. This latter claim was one of those contained in the importers’ protest, and was strongly urged by the importers before the board.

In brief, the articles were hats of imitation horsehair, and under the act of 1897 were unenumerated; the collector assessed them at 60 per cent ad valorem by similitude with silk wearing apparel; the board affirmed that decision; the Circuit Court reversed the board’s decision, holding the articles dutiable at 35 per cent ad valorem by similitude with straw hats; the Government appeals from the court’s decision, claiming that the importation was dutiable at 50 per cent ad valorem by similitude with cotton wearing apparel.

The case therefore now presents the single issue, Were imitation horsehair hats dutiable under the act of 1897 by similitude with straw hats or by similitude with cotton wearing apparel?

The following is a copy of the pertinent part of the similitude section of the act of 1897, and also of the paragraphs containing the classifications in question:

Sec. 7. That each and every imported article, not enumerated in this act, which is similar, either in material, quality, texture, or the use to which it may be applied, to any article enumerated in this act as chargeable with duty, shall pay the same rate of duty which is levied on the enumerated article which it most resembles in any of the particulars before mentioned; and if any nonenumerated article equally resembles two or more enumerated articles on which different rates of duty are chargeable, there shall be levied on such nonenumerated article the same rate of duty as is chargeable on the article which it resembles paying the highest rate of duty * * *.
314. * * * Articles of wearing apparel of every description * * *, composed of cotton or other vegetable fiber, or of which cotton or other vegetable fiber is the component material of chief value, made up or manufactured, wholly or in part, by the tailor, seamstress, or manufacturer, and not otherwise provided for in this act, fifty per centum ad valorem * * *
[59]*59409. * * * Hats, bonnets, and hoods, composed of straw * * *, whether wholly or partly manufactured, but not trimmed, thirty-five per centum ad valorem * * *. But the terms “grass” and “straw” shall be understood to mean these substances in their natural form and structure, and not the separated fiber -thereof.

The present competition, as above stated, is between alternative similitudes, and its decision depends upon the question whether the hats at bar, in material, quality, texture, and use, most resembled articles of wearing apparel composed of cotton on the one-hand or hats of straw upon the other hand.

In respect to material, it is stated by a witness that imitation horsehair is 90 per cent cotton. This is not understood to mean that the -article is to that extent composed of natural cotton fiber, but rather that a material derived from cotton and retaining its substance composed that percentage of the manufactured article. In that sense the statement is doubtless correct, and establishes a close relation, indeed almost an identity, between cotton and imitation horsehair in point of component material. It is probably true that straw also is composed of somewhat similar material, but it may be said that the actual derivation of imitation horsehair from cotton and its substantial identity with cotton in constituent elements are almost conclusive of its assimilation with cotton in respect to material.

In respect also to quality and texture, imitation horsehair hats incline toward articles of cotton. Each has a filament which is comparatively tough, and which is not flat or brittle. There is considerable testimony in the record tending to show a resemblance of the imported hats with hats of straw and that they are treated by the trade as almost identical in character; but after all it seems that the hats in question resemble cotton articles more nearly than articles of straw, not only in material, but also in quality and texture..

In respect to the use of the articles, as an element of similitude, the importers present an argument which they claim to be decisive of the issue. They call attention to the fact that the cotton paragraph above copied does not specifically name hats of cotton, but contains only a general classification of articles of wearing apparel of every description composed of cotton,” whereas in the straw paragraph hats are included by an eo nomine designation. The importers contend that “in applying the similitude clause, the article as imported should be compared, first, with articles provided for eo nomine in the tariff act; ” and that to give a concrete example, imitation horsehair hats are hats, imitation horsehair hats are wearing apparel, and, resort to the similitude clause being necessary, they should first be compared with such hats as are provided for eo nomine in the law, and the similarity required by the statute having been found not to exist they should then be compared with the wearing apparel that is denominatively provided for.”

Acting upon this assumption, the importers assert that hats of straw appear eo nomine in the act of 1897, and that the only other hats appearing eo nomine therein are hats of fur. They -therefore con[60]*60tend that imitation horsehair hats must be classified with hats of straw under that act, since the foregoing rule limits the comparison in the first instance to hats only, and the points of similarity palpably .incline toward hats of straw rather than toward hats of fur.

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Bluebook (online)
3 Ct. Cust. 57, 1912 CCPA LEXIS 52, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-cochran-ccpa-1912.