United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Pickhardt v. Merritt, 132 U.S. 252 (1889)

Pickhardt v. Merritt

No. 97

Argued November 12-l3, 1889

Decided December 2, 1889

132 U.S. 252

Syllabus

Dyes or colors called naphthylamine red, orange II, orange IV, and resorcine red J, imported in 1879, were liable to a duty of fifty cents per pound and thirty-five percent ad valorem under the provision of schedule M of § 2004 of the Revised Statutes, 2d ed. p. 479, imposing that rate of duty on "Paints and dyes -- aniline dyes and colors, by whatever name known," although none of them was known in commerce before 1870, if, according to the understanding of commercial men, dealers in and importers of them, they would, when imported, be included in the class of articles known as aniline dyes, by whatever name they had come to be known, or if, under § 2499 of the Revised Statutes, they bore a similitude, either in material, quality, or the use to which they might be applied, to what were known as aniline dyes at the time the Revised Statutes were enacted in 1874.

The case is stated in the opinion.