United States v. One Black Horse

129 F. 167, 1904 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 293
CourtDistrict Court, D. Maine
DecidedApril 8, 1904
DocketNo. 96
StatusPublished
Cited by30 cases

This text of 129 F. 167 (United States v. One Black Horse) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. One Black Horse, 129 F. 167, 1904 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 293 (D. Me. 1904).

Opinion

HALE, District Judge.

This case comes before the court on a libel by information of the United States of America against one black horse, one harness, and one wagon, alleged to have been used by one William Elliott in conveying four bottles of liquor from the Province of New Brunswick into the Judicial and Collection District of Houlton, in the District of Maine, and to have been so used at the time of the illegal importation aforesaid.

William E. Foss, of Houlton, appears as claimant for said horse, harness, and wagon. The case is presented on an agreed statement, as follows:

“The following facts are agreed upon by counsel, and are found as facts in the case:
“First The first fact found is that the said William Elliott did smuggle the four bottles of liquor on the 8th day of August, 1903, and that said Elliott has since been convicted and sentenced for said act of smuggling.
“Second. That on the said 8th day of August said Elliott hired the horse, carriage, and harness, described in the information, of William E. Foss, the claimant, who was then and there engaged in the business of a livery stable keeper at said Houlton, and in letting horses for hire.
“Third. That said Foss at the time of letting the team to said Elliott had no knowledge or information that said team was to be used for any violation, or to aid in any violation, of the customs revenue laws of the said United States by said Elliott.
“Fourth. That said Elliott, having hired the team as aforesaid, did drive to a point very near the line, but on the United States side of it, and left the team in a shed within the United States, and within the town of Houlton. That said Elliott immediately went over the line, purchased the four bottles of liquor, returned, placed them in the carriage, and started to drive towards Houlton village. Before he had completed his return journey the said four bottles of liquor and the said team were seized, as stated in the information.”

[168]*168The statutes of the United States (sections 3061-3063, Rev. St. [U. S. Comp. St. 1901, pp. 2006, 2007]) are as follows:

"Sec. 3061. Search, of Vehicles and Persons. Any of the officers or persons authorized to board or search vessels may stop, search, and examine, as well without as within their respective districts, any vehicle, beast, or person, on which or whom he or they shall suspect there is merchandise which is subject to duty, or shall have been introduced into the United States in any manner contrary to law, whether by the person in possession or charge, or by, in, or upon such vehicle or beast, or otherwise, and to search any trunk or envelope, wherever found, in which he may have a reasonable cause to suspect there is merchandise which was imported contrary to law; and if any such officer or other person so authorized shall find any merchandise on or about any such vehicle, beast, or person, or in any such trunk or envelope, which he shall have reasonable cause to believe is subject to duty, or to have been unlawfully introduced into the United States, whether by the person in possession or charge, or by, in, or upon such vehicle, beast, or, otherwise, he shall seize and secure the same for trial.
“Sec. 3062. Forfeitures. Every such vehicle and beast, or either, together with teams or other motive-power used in conveying, drawing, or propelling such vehicle or merchandise, and all other appurtenances, including trunks, envelopes, covers, and all means of concealment, and all the equipage, trappings, and other appurtenances of such beast, team, or vehicle, shall be subject to seizure and forfeiture. If any person who may be driving or conducting, or in charge of any such carriage or vehicle or beast, or any person travelling, shall willfully refuse to stop and allow search and examination to be made as herein provided, when required so to do by any authorized person, he shall be punishable by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars, nor less than fifty dollars.
“Sec. 3063. Privity of Owner. No railway car or engine or other vehicle, or team, used by any person or corporation, as common carriers, in the transaction of their business as such common carriers, shall be subject to forfeiture by force of the provisions of this title unless it shall appear that the owner, superintendent, or agent of the owner in charge thereof at the time of such unlawful importation or transportation thereon or thereby was a consenting party, or privy to such illegal importation or transportation.”

Under the decisions of our courts, this and all other statutes relating to forfeitures in revenue cases must be construed fairly and reasonably, to arrive at the intention of the lawmaking body. In coming to this construction the court must remember that the construction is made in a civil case in a matter relating to forfeiture of property, and not relating to the punishment of an offender. It is the duty of the court' to discover what was the intention of the lawmakers in framing this law. This belongs to a class of cases where the Legislature might undoubtedly declare an act criminal without respect to the motive of the doer of the. act. The courts have repeatedly decided that in respect to statutory offenses an evil intent is not necessarily an ingredient. It is then necessary for us to inquire, not what was the intention of the claimant in this case, but what was the intention of the lawmaking power. Where the intention is left in any way obscure, the courts have repeatedly said that the forfeiture of goods for violation of revenue laws would not be imposed, unless the owner of the goods or his agent has been guilty of an infraction of the law. Peisch v. Ware, 4 Cranch, 347-362, 2 L. Ed. 643; United States v. Bags of Kainit (D. C.) 37 Fed. 326; United States v. Certain Celluloid, 82 Fed. 627, 27 C. C. A. 231; United States v. Two Barrels of Whiskey, 96 Fed. 479, 37 C. C. A. 518; The Lady Essex (D. C.) 39 Fed. 767; Six Hundred and [169]*169Fifty-One Chests of Tea v. United States, Fed. Cas. No. 12,916; United States v. Two Horses, Fed. Cas. No. 16,578. In the case of United States v. Two Barrels of Whiskey, 96 Fed. 479, 37 C. C. A. 518, a full examination of authorities is given, and much light is thrown upon the general subject of forfeitures in revenue cases. That case deals with a statute different from the statutes in the case at bar. In the statutes which were before the court in that case, the court found that there was no intention of the Legislature to forfeit property, except the property of owners, on account of the misconduct of strangers over whom the owners could have no control. Such has been the general construction of revenue statutes. In Boyd v. United States, 116 U. S. 616, 6 Sup. Ct. 524, 29 L. Ed. 746, the court, Mr. Justice Bradley, says:

“We are clearly of the opinion that proceedings instituted for the purpose of declaring forfeiture of a man’s property by reason of an offense committed by him, though they may be civil in form, are by their nature criminal. * * * The information, though technically a civil proceeding, is in substance and effect a criminal one. It is his breach of the law which has to be proved to establish the forfeiture, and it is his property which is sought to be forfeited. * * * Goods, as goods, cannot offend, forfeit, unlade, pay duties, or the like; but men whose goods they are.”

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Bluebook (online)
129 F. 167, 1904 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-one-black-horse-med-1904.