United States v. Garrow

88 F.2d 318, 24 C.C.P.A. 410, 1937 CCPA LEXIS 14
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMarch 1, 1937
DocketCustoms Appeal 4018
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 88 F.2d 318 (United States v. Garrow) 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. Garrow, 88 F.2d 318, 24 C.C.P.A. 410, 1937 CCPA LEXIS 14 (ccpa 1937).

Opinion

GRAHAM, Presiding Judge.

Annie Garrow, a full-blooded Indian woman of the Canadian St. Regis Tribe of Iroquois Indians, and residing in Canada near the international boundary line, entered the United States at the village of Hogansburg, N. Y., carrying 24 baskets made of black ash splints and dyed in colors. The collector at the port imposed a duty under paragraph 411 of section 1 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C.A. § 1001, par. 411), which provides: “Par. 411. Porch and window blinds, baskets, bags, chair seats, curtains, shades, or screens, any of the foregoing wholly or in chief value of bamboo, wood, straw, papiermáché, palm leaf, or compositions of wood, not specially provided for, 50 per centum ad valorem.”

The appellee protested, claiming her said baskets to be free of duty under the provisions of article 3 of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce,"and Navigation concluded between the United States and Great Britain on November 19, 1794, commonly known as the„ Jay Treaty (8 Stat. 116, 117). Treaties, Conventions, International Acts, Protocols and Agreements between the United States and Other Powers, 1776-1909, by Malloy, vol. 1, p. 590, Senate Document No. 357, 61st Congress, 2d Session.

• The material portions of the protest filed are as follows:

“Sir: Notice of dissatisfaction is hereby given with, and protest is hereby made against your ascertainment, assessment, and liquidation of duties (including the legality of all orders and findings entering into the same), on the entry below named. The reasons for objection are as follows:
“Article 3 of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, concluded between the United States and Great Britain on November 19, 1794, known as the Jay Treaty, reads in part as follows:
“ ‘No duty of entry shall ever be levied by either party on peltries brought by land, or inland navigation into the said ter *319 ritories respectively, nor shall the Indians passing or repassing with their own proper goods and effects of whatever nature, pay for the same any impost or duty whatever. But goods in bales, or other large packages, unusual among Indians, shall not be considered as goods belonging bona fide to Indians.’
“This provision was in substance carried into the various tariff acts enacted during the period from March 2, 1799, to August 28, 1894.
“The provision was repealed in the latter act of section 34 of the Act of July 24, 1897 [30 Stat. 213], together with all the acts, or parts of acts inconsistent with the repealing statute.
"The repeal of the provision, in effect, abrogated that portion of the treaty, above indicated, but as the repeal was inconsistent with the terms of the treaty, the legality of the repeal is questionable.”

Upon a hearing before the United States Customs Court, in addition to the facts hereinbefore stated, it also appeared that at the time the international line was established between the Dominion of Canada and the United States of America, this line ran through the territory theretofore occupied by the St. Regis Tribe, with the result that a large number of this tribe reside on the American side and the rest of the tribe on the Canadian side, and that intercourse and communication between these portions of the tribe are continuous. It also appears that for some years the protestant, together with many others of her tribe, have been manufacturing baskets such as those in question here, for sale wherever they could be disposed of; that the protestant, on the occasion of the importation in question, was bringing the baskets across the line to dispose of them at the store of one McKinnon, who was in the business of purchasing such baskets from the Indians for resale; and that the amount received by the protestant for her baskets was $2, one-half of which was paid for duty imposed. It is also shown that the protestant was not carrying these baskets as a part of her household effects, but had manufactured the same, and was importing them, for sale in the United States. As the baskets were brought into the United States they were in two bundles, twelve in a bundle; the baskets in each bundle being fastened together by loops through their respective handles. Each basket was about six inches wide and about 8 inches high. As fastened together, they fitted into each other and made compact bundles which could be easily carried.

The United States Customs Court sustained the protest, holding that the case was controlled by McCandless v. United States, 25 F.(2d) 71, a decision of the Circuit Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. The Government brings the matter here by appeal, and contends that the court below was in error for three specific reasons which are specified in the Government’s brief as follows:

“(1) Article 3 of the Jay Treaty of 1794 was annulled by the War of 1812.
“(2) Alternatively, if article 3 of the Jay Treaty was not abrogated by the War of 1812, it is, nevertheless, in conflict with a subsequent statute. It is well settled that when a Treaty and a Statute are in conflict, that which is later in date prevails.
“(3) Assuming, for the sake of argument, that article 3 was not abrogated but is still in force and effect, the importation is not within the purview of the language of said article 3.”

On the other hand, counsel for the appellee contends .that article 3 of the Jay Treaty of 1794 is still in'full force and effect, and that under this treaty the imported goods are free of duty. The claim is thus stated: “The appellee’s claim is that-article 3 of the Jay Treaty of 1794, at least insofar as it applies to bona fide Indians, is still in effect and the merchandise in question is free from duty.”

It will be necessary to examine the provisions of the involved treaty, and the legislation and history of the times since the ratification of the Jay Treaty, in order to come to a proper conclusion as to the claims of the appellee to exemption from duty.

The Jay Treaty of 1794, in article 3 thereof, contained the following provisions :

“It is agreed that it shall at all times be free to his Majesty’s subjects, and to the citizens of the United States, and also to the Indians dwelling on either side of the said boundary line, freely to pass and repass by land or inland navigation, into the respective territories and countries of the two parties, on the continent of America (the country within the limits of the Hudson’s bay Company only excepted) and to navigate all the lakes, rivers and waters thereof, and freely to carry on trade and commerce with each other. * * *
*320 “No duty of entry shall ever be levied by either party on peltries brought by land, or inland navigation into the said territories respectively, nor shall the Indians passing or repassing with their own proper goods and effects of whatever nature, pay for the same any impost or duty whatever. But goods in bales, or other large packages, unusual among Indians, shall not be considered as goods belonging bona fide to Indians.”

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Bluebook (online)
88 F.2d 318, 24 C.C.P.A. 410, 1937 CCPA LEXIS 14, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-garrow-ccpa-1937.