United States v. Fifty Waltham Watch Movements

139 F. 291, 1905 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. New York
DecidedJune 6, 1905
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 139 F. 291 (United States v. Fifty Waltham Watch Movements) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Fifty Waltham Watch Movements, 139 F. 291, 1905 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141 (N.D.N.Y. 1905).

Opinion

BAY, District Judge.

Section 3082 of the Revised Statutes of the United States reads as follows:

“If any person shall fraudulently or knowingly import or bring into the United States, or assist in so doing, any merchandise, contrary to law, or shall receive, conceal, buy, sell or in any manner facilitate the transportation, concealment, or sale of such merchandise after importation, knowing' the same to have been imported contrary to law, such merchandise shall be forfeited and the offender shall be fined in any sum not exceeding five thousand dollars nor less than fifty dollars, or be imprisoned for any time not exceeding two years, or both. Whenever, on trial for a violation of this section, the defendant is shown to have or to have had possession of such goods, such possession shall be deemed evidence sufficient to authorize conviction, unless the defendant shall explain the possession to the satisfaction of the jury.”

[293]*293Paragraph 493 of the act of October 1, 1890 (chapter 1244, 26 Stat. 603), entitled “An act to reduce the revenue and equalize duties. on imports and for other purposes,” reads as follows:

“Articles the growth, produce, and manufacture of the United States, when returned after having been exported, without having been advanced in value or improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means; casks, barrels, carboys, bags, and other vessels of American manufacture exported filled with American products, or exported empty and returned filled with foreign products, including shooks when returned as barrels or boxes; also quicksilver flasks or bottles, of either domestic or foreign manufacture, which shall have been actually exported from the United States; but proof of the identity of such articles shall be made under general regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury; and if any such articles are subject to internal tax at the time of exportation such tax shall be proved to have been paid before exportation and not refunded.”

Under this provision the Secretary of the Treasury made the following rules and regulations:

“(483) Exportations under this provision of law must be bona fide and not for the purpose of evading any revenue law. Merchandise, the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United States, ostensibly exported to ports in Canada in foreign vessels, but really shipped from one place in the United States to another by routes part water and part rail, and passing through foreign territory, are not bona fide exportations, and the merchandise is not entitled to free entry on importation.
“(484) If returned to the port of original exportation, the fact of regular clearance for a foreign destination must be shown by the records of the customs, except in regard to exports to Canada by ferryboat, and by the declaration of the person making the entry. But when the reimportation is made into a port other than that of original exportation, there shall be required, in addition to the declaration, a certificate from the collector and the naval officer (Cat. No. 773), if any, of the port where the exportation was made showing the fact of exportation from that port (and such certificate shall be furnished on application by the collector of customs at the port of exportation). If the importation be made within one year after the date of exportation, the collector shall require the importer to produce the affidavit (Cat. No. 594) of the exporter to the fact that such exportation was made in good faith and without any purpose or intention to reimport the merchandise. If such certificate of exportation cannot at once be procured, and the proof otherwise required be produced, free entry will be permitted on bond (Cat. No. 596) being given for the production of the certificate in a sum equal to what the duties would be if it were foreign merchandise. The issuance of such certificate shall be noted on the export manifest.
“(485) To guard against fraud, and to insure identity, the collector shall require, in addition to proof of clearance, the production of a declaration made by the foreign exporter of the goods before the United States consul of the fact that the merchandise was imported from the United States, and that it has not been advanced in value nor improved in condition by any process of manufacture or other means. But if it be impracticable to produce such declaration at the time of making entry, bond may be given for the production thereof. Collectors, with concurrence of naval officers, if any, may waive the record evidence of clearance and above declaration in the case of domestic goods on which no drawback has been allowed, valued at not over $100. In default of observance of the foregoing requirements imported merchandise will be treated as foreign.”

Article 384 of the customs regulations of 1899, at page 123, provides as follows:

“All imported merchandise must be entered at' the customhouse of the port of arrival.”

[294]*294Chapter 11 of the customs administrative act, as amended by the act of July 24, 1897, in sections 3095 to 3101 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 2025, 2027], regulates the bringing of merchandise into the United States on the northern border from contiguous countries. The sections referred to admit the bringing of merchandise into the United States from Canada by means of vehicles or other means of transportation, but provide that such merchandise must first be reported to and entered at the customhouse nearest to the point at which they cross the border. Section 3100 provides:

“All merchandise and all baggage and effects of passengers and all other articles imported into the United States from any contiguous foreign country, except as hereafter provided, as well as the vessels, cars and other vehicles, and envelopes in which the same shall be imported shall be unladen in the presence of and be inspected by any inspector or other officer of the customs at the first port of entry or customhouse in the United States where the same shall arrive and to enable the proper officer thoroughly to discharge this duty he may require the owner or his agent or other person having charge or possession of any trunk, traveling bag or sack, valise, or other envelope or of any closed vessel, car or other vehicle to open the same or to deliver to him the proper key.”

Section 2766 [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 1861] provides as follows:

“The word ‘merchandise’ as used in this title may include goods, wares and chattels of every description capable of being imported.”

And section 2767 defines the word “port” as follows;

“The word ‘port’ as used in this title may include any place from which merchandise can be shipped for importation or at which merchandise can be imported.”

Paragraph 483 of the act approved July 24, 1897, c. 11, § 2, Free List, 30 Stat. 195 [U. S. Comp. SC 1901, p. 1680], entitled “An act to provide revenue for the government and to encourage the industries of the United States” reads as follows, leaving off the provisos which are entirely immaterial:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
139 F. 291, 1905 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 141, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-fifty-waltham-watch-movements-nynd-1905.