United States v. Olympic Club

5 Ct. Cust. 251, 1914 WL 21860, 1914 CCPA LEXIS 67
CourtCourt of Customs and Patent Appeals
DecidedMay 4, 1914
DocketNo. 1286
StatusPublished

This text of 5 Ct. Cust. 251 (United States v. Olympic Club) 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. Olympic Club, 5 Ct. Cust. 251, 1914 WL 21860, 1914 CCPA LEXIS 67 (ccpa 1914).

Opinion

Smith, Judge,

delivered the opinion of the court.

A marble sculpture of the Greek boxer Kreugas, copied by the sculptors Moretti and Rinaldi from the famous statue executed by Canova in the year 1790, was classified by the collector of customs at [252]*252the port of San Francisco as a “sculpture” and assessed for duty at 15 per cent ad valorem under that part of paragraph 470 of the act of 1909 which reads as follows:

470. * * * Sculptures, not specially provided for in this section, fifteen per centum ad valorem; but the term “sculptures” as used in this act shall be understood to include only such as are cut, carved, or otherwise wrought by hand from a solid block or mass of marble, stone, or alabaster, or from metal, and as are the professional production of a sculptor only, •* * *.

The importer protested that the statue was a work of art entitled to free entry either under paragraph 715 or under paragraph 716 of the free list, which paragraphs, in so far as pertinent, are as follows:

Free list:
That on and after the day following'the passage of this “act, * * *, the articles mentioned in the following paragraphs shall, when imported into the United States, * * *, be exempt from duty:
*******
715. Works of art, * * * antiquities and artistic copies thereof in metal or other material, imported in good faith for exhibition at a fixed place by any State or by any society or institution established for the encouragement of the arts, science, or education, or for a municipal corporation, and all like articles imported in good faith by any society or association, or for a municipal corporation for the purpose of erecting a public monument, and not intended for sale, nor for any other purpose than herein expressed; * * *: Provided, That the privileges of this and the preceding section shall not be allowed to associations or corporations engaged in or connected with business of a private or commercial character.
716. Works of art, productions of American artists residing temporarily abroad, or other works of art, * * * imported expressly for presentation to a national institution, or to any State or municipal corporation or incorporated religious society, college, or other public institution, * * * except any article, in whole or in part, molded, cast, or mechanically wrought from metal within twenty years prior to importation; 'but such exemption shall be subject to such regulations as the Secretary of the Treasury may prescribe.

At the hearing, however, the claim that paragraph 716 was applicable to the importation was abandoned and accordingly whether the statue was within the meaning and intention of paragraph 715 became the only issue in the case.

The Board of General Appraisers found that the subject matter of the controversy was a work of art, the replica of an ancient piece of statuary wrought by Canova, and that it was entitled to free entry inasmuch as it had been imported by a society or association for no purposes other than those expressed in paragraph 715. The protests were therefore sustained by the board and from that decision the Government appealed.

In support of the appeal it is contended that the importation is not within any of the requirements for free entry prescribed by the statute, first, because the importer is not a society or institution established for the encouragement of art, science, or education; second, because the. statue was not imported for exhibition at a [253]*253fixed place; and, third, because the importer is not a society or association organized for the purpose of erecting a monument.

The importer is the Olympic Club, of San Francisco, which., as appears from the evidence, is an incorporated society without capital stock organized not for profit or business but solely to encourage amateur athletics, to promote physical culture, and to advance social intercourse among its members, The membership is divided into nine classes, known as active, charter, life, honorary, nonresident, army and navy, athletic, junior, and juvenile members. Active members are such as are elected to that class by a committee on admissions and are required to pay an admission fee of $100 and $5 per month as dues. Charter members owe their membership to the fact that they were identified with the original organization of the club and are required to pay no dues. Life members are elected in the same manner as active members and are required to pay an admission fee of $500 but no dues. Honorary members become such on account of some striking service to the club or public and by unanimous consent of the directors; they are not obliged to pay either an admission fee or dues. The junior membership is made up of such sons, wards, and brothers of members as are over 16 and under 21 years of age, and the juvenile membership of such sons, wards, and brothers of members as are under 16 years of age. Athletic members are of two kinds — those elected by the board of directors on recommendation of the athletic committee, and those who are either athletic coaches and managers of certain universities or students distinguished in athletics and who are in attendance on such universities or on high schools bordering on the Bay of San Francisco. The dues of junior members are $2 per month, the dues of juvenile members $1.50 per month, and the dues of student members such as may be fixed by the board of directors. The right to hold office and the right to a voice and vote in the affairs of the club is vested in the active, charter, and fife members, and upon them alone is imposed all liability for club indebtedness and assessments. The privileges of the club to be enjoyed by junior, juvenile, and student athletic members are prescribed by the directors, but all other members are entitled to such privileges as of right.

Athletics and physical culture are, as appears from the by-laws, the distinguishing features of the club, and the purposes to the advancement of which its energies are principally directed. In furtherance of the two objects which give the institution its distinctive character, it provides a gymnasium, a swimming tank, and the usual gymnastic appliances for the promotion of athletics and the development of the physical man. Had it stopped there the importer might well be regarded as differing in no essential particular from those social organizations which furnish facilities for physical im[254]*254provement, tbe use of which is left to individual initiative without direction or systematized instruction. From the evidence in this case, however, it would seem that the Olympic Club goes further than that and that its activities have a very much wider range than those which characterize the ordinary social or athletic club. It furnishes a corps of teachers and professors for the instruction of its membership in physical culture, and that those excluded by their youth from the privileges of full membership may take advantage of such instruction, it opens its doors not only to members’ sonsv wards, and brothers who are under the age limit, but also to all students of the universities and high schools adjacent to San Francisco who have distinguished themselves in athletics.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
5 Ct. Cust. 251, 1914 WL 21860, 1914 CCPA LEXIS 67, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-olympic-club-ccpa-1914.