United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

American Sugar Refining Co. v. United States, 211 U.S. 155 (1908)

American Sugar Refining Company v. United States

No. 3

Argued November 11, 1908

Decided November 30, 1908

211 U.S. 155

Syllabus

A direct appeal from the Circuit Court will not lie where the only real substantial point is whether or not an officer of the United States has misconstrued a statute.

The claim that the Secretary of the Treasury has exercised legislative power in promulgating, pursuant to § 251, Revised Statutes, regulations concerning the collection of duties under the tariff law does not constitute a real and substantial dispute or controversy concerning the construction or application of the Constitution upon which the result depends, and a direct appeal will not lie to this Court under § 5 of the Act of March 3, 1891, c. 517, 26 Stat. 826, 828.

The regulations of 1897, promulgated by the Secretary of the Treasury, in regard to polariscopic tests of sugar to determine the duty payable thereon, as provided in § 1, Schedule E, par. 209, of the Tariff Act of July 24, 1897, c. 11, 30 Stat. 168, could have been enacted in terms by Congress without violating any provision of the Constitution of the United States, and prior decisions have determined that the Secretary properly construed the statute.

The facts are stated in the opinion.

Page 211 U. S. 157