1. The regulation prescribed by the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue that
"whenever any rectifier proposes to empty any spirits, for the
purpose of rectifying, purifying, refining, redistilling, or
compounding the same, he will file with the collector a notice or
statement giving the number of casks or packages, the serial number
of each, the number of wine and proof gallons in each, the kind of
stamps and serial numbers of each, the particular name of such
spirits as known to the trade, the proof, by whom produced, the
district where produced, by whom inspected, and the date of
inspection,"
is within the purview of the power conferred upon that officer
by sec. 3249 of the Revised Statutes, "to prescribe rules and
regulations to secure a uniform and correct inspection, weighing,
marking, and gauging of spirits."
2. The ruling that when an act works the forfeiture of goods,
the right of the government at once attaches to seize them whenever
and wherever they may be found and assert the forfeiture,
reaffirmed.
Henderson's Distilled
Spirits, 14 Wall. 44, cited and approved.
The facts are stated in the opinion of the Court.
MR. JUSTICE MILLER delivered the opinion of the Court.
The case before us originated in an information filed in the
District Court for the Southern District of New York against
certain package of distilled spirits by the district attorney, as
forfeited by reason of a violation of the regulations of the
Commissioner
Page 103 U. S. 680
of Internal Revenue concerning the tax on distilled spirits.
Sec. 3249 of the Revised Statutes authorizes that officer "to
prescribe rules and regulations to secure a uniform and correct
inspection, weighing, marking, and gauging of spirits." One of the
regulations established under this authority says that
"Whenever any rectifier proposes to empty any spirits for the
purpose of rectifying, purifying, refining, redistilling, or
compounding the same, he will file with the collector a notice or
statement giving the number of casks or packages, the serial number
of each, the number of wine and proof gallons in each, the kind of
stamps and serial numbers of each, the particular name of such
spirits as known to the trade, the proof, by whom produced, the
district where produced, by whom inspected, and the date of
inspection."
It is made the duty of the gaugers to inspect, brand, and stamp
all spirits required by law to be inspected, of which returns are
to be made daily in duplicate to the assessor and collector,
containing a true account in detail on Form No. 59.
The information, after reciting the seizure of the spirits and
alleging that they had formerly been owned by one Bensberg,
alleges
"That said Bensberg, while his ownership of said spirits
continued, and with the purpose and intention of obtaining the
issue to him of stamps for rectified spirits, to be placed upon
certain other spirits upon which the tax had not been paid, and for
the purpose of evading said tax, and enabling him to dispose of the
latter mentioned spirits without compliance with any requirement of
law respecting them, falsely made returns to the collector of the
collection district aforesaid upon Form 122 aforesaid; that the
spirits first above mentioned were emptied for rectification upon
his premises aforesaid, and the stamps, marks, and brands thereupon
effaced and obliterated, and that said Bensberg, then and there, by
means of a bribe of money for that purpose, paid by said Bensberg
to a certain United States gauger, who was then and there charged
with the duty of inspecting the emptying of packages of spirits for
rectification upon the premises aforesaid, and of making his
certificate relating thereto as set forth in Form 122 aforesaid,
and of making a report relating thereto
Page 103 U. S. 681
to said collector upon a form duly, by the commissioner
aforesaid according to law, for that purpose prescribed, and known
as Form 59, whereof a copy is hereto annexed and marked B, induced
said gauger to make his certificate upon Form 122 as aforesaid, and
the return upon Form 59 aforesaid, that the packages of spirits
first above mentioned were emptied upon said premises, and the
stamps, marks, and brands upon them effaced and obliterated, while
in truth and in fact such returns, Forms 122 and 59, and said
certificate, were wholly false, and said packages were not emptied,
or said stamps, marks, or brands effaced or obliterated, but on the
contrary thereof said packages were subsequently shipped and
delivered to the claimant in this action, and said Bensberg then
and there conveyed to said claimant all the right, title, and
interest therein which he could convey in view of the facts
hereinbefore alleged, against the form of the statutes of the
United States in such case provided."
On demurrer to this information judgment was rendered for the
United States in the district court, which was affirmed on a writ
of error by the circuit court.
The Revised Statutes, sec. 3451 is as follows:
"Every person who simulates or falsely or fraudulently executes
or signs any bond, permit, entry, or document required by the
provisions of the internal revenue laws, or by any regulations made
in pursuance thereof, or who procures the same to be falsely or
fraudulently executed, or who advises, aids in, or connives at such
execution thereof, shall be imprisoned for a term not less than one
year nor more than five years, and the property to which such false
and fraudulent instrument relates shall be forfeited."
It is objected by counsel for the claimant of the whiskey, that
the regulation in question is unauthorized by the statute. But we
see no just ground for such a proposition.
The internal revenue law is very specific in the details of that
which is necessary to prevent fraud, especially in regard to the
tax on whiskey and tobacco, and it was still found necessary to
authorize the bureau which had charge of the collection of that tax
to prescribe regulations for conducting the business of making and
selling whiskey, and to adopt forms of
Page 103 U. S. 682
reports in the information which it must receive from the
officers engaged in collecting the tax, and the parties who should
pay the tax.
The rule in question seems to be a reasonable one and within the
purview of the power conferred.
After all, the essence of the charge against Bensberg is that he
defrauded the government out of the tax justly due, and that he did
it by the fraudulent use of these forms and in violation of the
regulations.
It is also urged that the offence which he committed had
relation to the other whiskey on which he placed the stamps
fraudulently obtained. The answer to this is that while both
packages were properly stamped, the fraud was committed in
obtaining stamps on a false certificate of emptying the casks now
seized, and a false certificate of the gauger to that effect in
violation of the regulation on that subject. We are of opinion that
it was in regard to the whiskey now seized that the false entry was
made, and the forfeiture attached to it.
Though claimant's counsel sets up the innocence of the present
claimant in regard to the fraud or any knowledge of it, it can
hardly be necessary at this day to reconsider the doctrine that
when the act has been done which the law declares to work a
forfeiture of the property, the right of the government to seize
the property, and assert the forfeiture, attaches at once and may
be pursued by the government whenever and in whose hands soever
that property may be found.
See Henderson's Distilled
Spirits, 14 Wall. 44.
Judgment affirmed.