United States v. La Manna

14 Ct. Cust. 123, 1926 WL 27947, 1926 CCPA LEXIS 293
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 8, 1926
DocketNo. 2702
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 14 Ct. Cust. 123 (United States v. La Manna) 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. La Manna, 14 Ct. Cust. 123, 1926 WL 27947, 1926 CCPA LEXIS 293 (ccpa 1926).

Opinion

BlaND, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court:

This case, before the Board of General Appraisers, was the consolidation of four protests in three entries made by three different importers.

The appraiser’s answer to three of the protests describes the merchandise as follows:

The merchandise in question is described on Invoice #1 as pearl onions and consists of onions peeled and put up in vinegar pickle and packed in glass bottles. It was returned for duty as vegetables pickled at 35% ad valorem under paragraph 773.

The appraiser’s answer to the fourth protest was as follows:

The merchandise in question consists of onions preserved in bottles. It was returned for duty as vegetables preserved not specially provided for, at 35% under par. 773, act of 1922.

At the hearing before the board it was admitted, by importers, that the merchandise was imported as condiments and that the onions had been peeled.

The exhibits accompanying the appeal show the merchandise to consist of extra small white onions, ranging in size from about one-eighth of an inch in diameter to about one-fourth or three-eighths of an inch in diameter, put up in bottles of white vinegar. The largest bottle contains 4 ounces of the pickled onion exclusive of the vinegar, while the smaller ones contain but 1 % ounces. They were invoiced as pearl onions. In appearance they are irregular in shape and otherwise indicating that they have been cut and peeled, a large portion of them being smaller than small peas. They were assessed for duty under paragraph 773 of the Tariff Act of 1922 as vegetables, pickled, which paragraph reads as follows:

773. Vegetables, if cut, sliced, or otherwise reduced in size, or if parched or roasted, or if pickled, or packed in salt, brine, oil, or prepared or preserved in any other way and not specially provided for: * * * 35 per centum ad valorem.

The importers protested, claiming the goods to be dutiable as onions, under paragraph 768, which reads as follows:

768. Onions, 1 cent per pound; garlic, 2 cents per pound.

[125]*125The board sustained the protest, from which action the Government has appealed to this court.

The board, in sustaining the protest, held the merchandise to be onions under paragraph 768, sufra, dutiable at .1 cent per pound, and the bottles were held to be separately dutiable at 1)4, cents per' pound or 50 cents a gross, under paragraph 217, according to their capacity.

The decision of the board clearly indicates that it believed this merchandise to have been properly classified by the collector, and that they were more than onions, and were, in fact, pickles. It felt bound by the decision of this court in Brown v. United States, 6 Ct. Cust. Appls. 415, and by a recent board decision, Conkey v. United States, C. A. 8845, T. D. 40376, now on appeal to this court. In the Conkey case the board followed the ruling in the Brown case.

The appellees rely almost entirely upon the authority of the two last cited cases, and contend that the eo nomine designation of merchandise without qualifying words controls in customs law over a general class description, which class description also includes the merchandise but which carries with it a clause, “not specially pro- ' vided for.”

In the Brown case, sufra, the importation consisted of soy beans which had been cooked, and perhaps salted to a certain extent for preservation, and packed in tins, jars, bottles, or similar packages. The question, there, was whether the merchandise should have been classified under paragraph 199 of the tariff act of 1913, which reads as follows:

199. Beans, * * * prepared or preserved, or contained in tins, jars, bottles, or similar packages, including the weight of immediate coverings, 1 cent per pound; * * *

or under paragraph 606 of the free list, as soy leans.

. In that case the merchandise had been submitted to the Department of Agriculture for report, which report was before the court showing that the preparation, cooking, or salting, did not alter their status as soy beans, or prevent them from being identified as such. The report, which was made to the board through the Secretary of the Treasury in accordance with the stipulation by the parties, stated that the merchandise was soy leans.

This court, in deciding the case, said:

The principle is well established that in determining the classification of goods an eo nomine designation must, unless a legislative intent to the contrary is clearly indicated, be preferred to terms of general description and to enumerations which are broader in scope and less specific. Arthur v. Lahey (96 U. S. 112, 113); Vietor v. Arthur (104 U. S. 498, 499); Robertson v. Glendenning (132 U. S. 158, 159); Chew Hing Lung v. Wise (176 U. S. 156, 160). In accordance with that doctrine we have held that kippered herrings in tin cans was dutiable as kippered herrings rather than as fish in tin packages; that tamarinds in molasses were duty free as tamarinds rather than dutiable as fruits packed in molasses; [126]*126that herrings or mackerel, pickled or salted and packed in tin cans, was dutiable as herrings or mackerel, pickled or salted, rather than as fish in tin packages; and that herrings, pickled and boned, and herrings, pickled, skinned, and boned were dutiable as herrings, pickled, rather than as fish, pickled, or as fish, skinned or boned. United States v. Rosenstein (1 Ct. Cust. Appls. 304; T. D. 31357); United States v. John Duncan Sons et al., (2 Ct. Cust. Appls. 380; T. D. 32097); United States v. Smith & Nessle Co. (4 Ct. Cust. Appls. 70; T. D. 33312); United States v. Haaker & Co. et als. (4 Ct. Cust. Appls. 471; T. D. 33884). And following these decisions we must hold here that soya beans cooked and Soya beans in jars and bottles are more specifically provided for under the eo nomine designation “soya beans” than by a provision for “beans, * * * prepared or preserved) or contained in tins, jars, bottles, or similar packages.”

The cases of Rich v. United States, 61 Fed. 501, United States v. Reiss & Brady, 136 Fed. 741, and Brennan v. United States, 136 Fed. 743, were discussed. The court then concludes as follows:

In two of the cases commercial usage and in the third long-continued departmental practice had given to the eo nomine designation under consideration a special and particular signification which did not embrace the goods in litigation. Consequently, in those cases, it was not a question of whether the eo nomine designation should be preferred to terms of general description, but whether the eo nomine designation as used in the tariff act and understood in commerce was applicable to the merchandise.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Ensign-Bickford Co. v. United States
33 Cust. Ct. 205 (U.S. Customs Court, 1954)
Charles T. Wilson Co. v. United States
38 C.C.P.A. 19 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1950)
Charles T. Wilson Co. v. United States
22 Cust. Ct. 73 (U.S. Customs Court, 1949)
Crosse & Blackwell Co. v. United States
36 C.C.P.A. 33 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1948)
Crosse & Blacewell Co. v. United States
18 Cust. Ct. 123 (U.S. Customs Court, 1947)
United States v. Meyer
32 C.C.P.A. 1 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1944)
Mutual Supply Co. v. United States
12 Cust. Ct. 136 (U.S. Customs Court, 1944)
Wing Chong Lung Co. v. United States
10 Cust. Ct. 262 (U.S. Customs Court, 1943)
Obrecht v. United States
10 Cust. Ct. 127 (U.S. Customs Court, 1943)
Linhart v. United States
8 Cust. Ct. 38 (U.S. Customs Court, 1942)
Nootka Packing Co. v. United States
22 C.C.P.A. 464 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1935)
Bragno v. United States
21 C.C.P.A. 74 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1933)
Rietmann Pilcer, Co. v. United States
14 Ct. Cust. 150 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1926)
United States v. Pacific Trading Co.
14 Ct. Cust. 131 (Customs and Patent Appeals, 1926)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
14 Ct. Cust. 123, 1926 WL 27947, 1926 CCPA LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-la-manna-ccpa-1926.