The mere fact that a law is unconstitutional does not entitle a
party to relief by injunction against proceedings in compliance
therewith, but it must appear that he has no adequate remedy by the
ordinary processes of the law, or that the case falls under some
recognized head of equity jurisdiction, and in this case, the
averments of the complainants' bill did not justify such an
interference with executive action.
The seizure of importations of teas purchased after the approval
of the Act of March 2, 1897, c. 358, entitled "An act to prevent
the importation
Page 176 U. S. 74
of impure and unwholesome tea," and the establishment of
regulations and standards thereunder, publicly promulgated and
known to complainants, because falling below the standards
prescribed, could inflict no
other injury than what it must be assumed was anticipated, and
the
interposition of a court of equity cannot properly be invoked,
under
such circumstances, to determine in advance whether
complainants, if
they imported teas of that character, could escape the
consequences on
the ground of the invalidity of the law.
This is an appeal from a decree of the Circuit Court of the
United States for the Southern District of New York dismissing on
demurrer a bill in equity brought by Cruickshank and others,
copartners doing business in the City of New York, against George
R. Bidwell, collector of customs for the port of New York.
The bill averred that complainants were engaged in importing
teas from Japan into the United States; that, during the month of
November, 1897, they imported into the United States and entered at
the custom house in the port of New York several invoices of tea of
the aggregate value of something over $4,100; that they applied to
defendant as collector of customs for permission to take possession
of the goods, and the collector refused to permit them to do so,
but retained the same in his own possession, claiming that he was
thereunto authorized by the provisions of an act of Congress
approved March 2, 1897, entitled "An Act to Prevent the Importation
of Impure and Unwholesome Tea." This act is printed in the margin.
*
Page 176 U. S. 75
That defendant pretends that he is entitled
"so to refuse to permit your orators to take possession of said
teas and to dispose of the same on the ground that samples of said
teas, of
Page 176 U. S. 76
each of said several invoices hereinafter set forth, have been
taken by examiners appointed under the alleged authority of the
said act of Congress, and compared with certain other samples of
other teas selected by the Secretary of the Treasury
Page 176 U. S. 77
of the United States, and set up as standard samples of teas
under the alleged authority of the said act of Congress, and that
the samples so taken from the said teas hereinafter set forth were
inferior in some or all of the respects designated in said act of
Congress, either as to purity, quality, or fitness for consumption,
to the standards so prescribed by said Secretary of the Treasury of
the United States."
That defendant claims the right to retain the teas for six
months, and then cause them to be destroyed, and demands that
complainants shall give security satisfactory to him that
Page 176 U. S. 78
if said teas shall be released to them they will forthwith
export said teas out of the limits of the United States, and will
submit the invoices and various papers relating to said teas to be
marked by defendant as teas "condemned under the laws of the United
States."
The bill then specifically enumerated the entries of the teas,
the warehouses in which they were, and their value respectively,
and charged that said act of Congress was in all respects null and
void and of no effect, because contrary to the provisions of the
Constitution of the United States, in that the act
"purports to delegate to the Secretary of the Treasury power and
authority to legislate as to the quality, purity, and fitness for
consumption of the teas imported by your orators, and to authorize
the defendant to seize, hold, and destroy said teas, and deprive
your orators of their property in the same without due process of
law, and that in this suit the matter in dispute, to-wit, the value
of the said teas, and the right to import teas, exclusive of
interest and costs, exceeds the sum or value of $2,000 and the suit
arises under the Constitution and laws of the United States."
It was further alleged that, by reason of the matters set forth
and the insistence of defendant that he is entitled to hold
possession and control of the goods under authority of the act of
Congress,
"for the reason that the said examiners, after examination made
pursuant to said statute, have declared the said teas to be
inferior in the respects set forth in the said act of Congress, or
some of them, to the standards fixed and selected by the Secretary
of the Treasury, your orators will suffer irreparable damage; that
the insistence of the defendant of his right to stamp the invoices
and papers relating to the importation of said teas as condemned
under the laws of the United States renders the said teas worthless
for export and entry or sale in the markets of other countries, and
that the said claim of the defendant that the said teas cannot be
lawfully taken from the said warehouses renders the said teas
unsalable and worthless in the market, for the reason that dealers
will not purchase or handle the said goods under the cloud or
threat of illegality regarding the same
Page 176 U. S. 79
created by such insistence and claim on the part of the
defendant."
The bill continued:
"Your orators further show that your orators purpose and intend
to import from time to time other invoices of teas into the United
States, and that the said defendant threatens and intends to seize
and hold such teas, and take possession and control of the same,
and refuse your orators possession of the same, in the same manner
and under the same claim of authority of said act of Congress as
the defendant has heretofore made and set up with regard to the
teas hereinbefore set forth, and that your orators' right to import
and deal in teas is thereby destroyed and taken away."
That complainants
"do not set up or allege and hold such teas, and take possession
and control of the same, and refuse your orators possession of the
same, in the same manner and under the same claim of authority of
said act of Congress as the said defendant has heretofore made and
set up with regard to the teas hereinbefore set forth and that your
orators' right to import and deal in teas is thereby destroyed and
taken away."
That complainants
"do not set up or allege as ground for denying the right of the
defendant so to hold and deal with said teas, as hereinbefore set
forth, any defect, omission, or irregularity in the proceedings by
the examiners and appraisers with regard to said teas, but solely
on the ground that the act of Congress hereinbefore referred to . .
. is unconstitutional and void, and confers no authority upon the
defendant, and creates no right in the defendant to refuse to
permit your orators to take possession of the said teas and
introduce them into, and sell them in, the United States."
And further that complainants had complied in all respects with
the requirements of law as to the entry of the teas in the custom
house at the port of New York; that there was no further act
required by law of complainants to entitle them to take possession
and dispose of the same, and that complainants "are without any
adequate remedy at law."
The bill prayed for injunction restraining defendant
"from continuing to hold possession of the said teas, as
hereinbefore set forth, and from refusing to permit your orators to
take possession of the same and withdraw the same from the said
warehouses, and from marking or stamping the invoices and papers
relating to the importation thereof with the words, 'Condemned
under the laws of the United States,' or any words to that effect,
and from destroying the said teas, and from exercising any alleged
right, possession, or authority
Page 176 U. S. 80
relating to or concerning the said teas, purporting to be
conferred or created or authorized by the said act of
Congress,"
and for general relief.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE FULLER delivered the opinion of the Court.
Complainants sought by this bill to enjoin an officer of the
United States from the discharge of duties expressly imposed upon
him by an act of Congress on the ground of its unconstitutionality.
We are clear that its averments did not justify such an
interference with executive action.
In
Noble v. Union River Logging Railroad Company,
147 U. S. 165, the
jurisdiction was sustained, but the government raised no point as
to the form of the remedy, and deprivation of a vested legal right
of property, acquired before any suggestion that it could be taken
away, was there threatened, and it appeared that the only remedy
was through equity interposition.
New Orleans v. Paine,
147 U. S. 261,
147 U. S. 264.
But we are unwilling to extend that precedent.
It is settled that the mere fact that a law is unconstitutional
does not entitle a party to relief by injunction against
proceedings in compliance therewith, but it must appear that he has
no adequate remedy by the ordinary processes of the law, or that
the case falls under some recognized head of equity jurisdiction.
Shelton v. Platt, 139 U. S. 591;
Allen v. Pullman's Palace Car Company, 139 U.
S. 658;
Pacific Express Company v. Seibert,
142 U. S. 339;
Pittsburgh &c. Railway Company v. Board of Public
Works, 172 U. S. 32;
Arkansas Building & Loan Association v. Madden,
175 U. S. 269.
As
Page 176 U. S. 81
remarked by Mr. Justice Bradley in
New York Guaranty Co. v.
Memphis Water Co., 107 U. S. 205,
107 U. S. 214,
the sixteenth section of the Judiciary Act of 1789, now section 723
of the Revised Statutes, declaring
"'that suits in equity shall not be sustained in either of the
courts of the United States in any case where a plain, adequate,
and complete remedy may be had at law,' certainly means something,
and if only declaratory of what was always the law, it must at
least, have been intended to emphasize the rule and to impress it
upon the attention of the courts."
Inadequacy of remedy at law exists where the case made demands
preventive relief -- as, for instance, the prevention of
multiplicity of suits, or the prevention of irreparable injury. The
one head is well illustrated by
Union Pacific Railway Company
v. Cheyenne, 113 U. S. 516, and
Smyth v. Ames, 169 U. S. 466,
169 U. S. 517,
and the other by
Watson v.
Sutherland, 5 Wall. 74, cited by counsel.
But this bill does not aver, nor does it appear, that there
would be any multiplicity of suits if complainants were left to
their remedy at law.
The sole ground of equity jurisdiction put forward is the
inadequacy of remedy at law in that the injury threatened is not
susceptible of complete compensation in damages. The mere assertion
that the apprehended acts will inflict irreparable injury in not
acts will inflict irreparable injury is not the court can
reasonably infer that such would be the result, and in this
particular we think the bill fatally defective.
The matter in dispute was averred to be "the value of the said
teas, and the right to import teas."
Confessedly the value of these teas was known, and their
destruction capable of being compensated by recovery at law. The
official character of the collector, the provisions of the act, and
the regulations of the Secretary of the Treasury in execution
thereof would not constitute a defense if the act were
unconstitutional. There was no intimation that the collector would
be unable to respond in judgment, and, moreover, section 989 of the
Revised Statutes provides that when a recovery is had in any suit
or proceeding against a collector
Page 176 U. S. 82
for any act done by him, probable cause being certified, "the
amount so recovered shall, upon final judgment, be provided for and
paid out of the proper appropriation from the Treasury."
The
Conqueror, 166 U. S. 110,
166 U. S.
124.
Nor was there any averment of injury by reason of the
condemnation of these teas other than the loss of the teas
themselves.
The allegations in respect of apprehended deprivation of the
right to import and deal in teas were that complainants intended to
import from time to time other invoices of teas, and that the
collector threatened to take possession of and hold them, in the
exercise of authority under the act of Congress, in the same manner
as the particular teas in question. This was in effect to assert a
vested right to import and deal in teas which might be impure and
unwholesome, and which were at all events inferior to the uniform
standards "of purity, quality, and fitness for consumption" fixed
by the Secretary. The law does not prohibit the importation of teas
coming up to the standards, and it is difficult to perceive the
elements of irreparable injury in the denial of permission to
import inferior teas.
Manifestly the seizure of importations of teas purchased after
the approval of the act and the establishment of regulations and
standards thereunder, publicly promulgated and known to
complainants, because falling below the standards prescribed could
inflict no other injury than what it must be assumed was
anticipated, and the interposition of a court of equity cannot
properly be invoked under such circumstances to determine in
advance whether complainants, if they imported teas of that
character, could escape the consequences on the ground of the
invalidity of the law.
As no tenable basis for equity interposition was shown, the
decree of the circuit court dismissing the bill was rightly
entered.
Decree affirmed.
*
"That from and after May first, eighteen hundred and
ninety-seven, it shall be unlawful for any person or persons or
corporation to import or bring into the United States any
merchandise as tea which is inferior in purity, quality, and
fitness for consumption to the standards provided in section three
of this act and the importation of all such merchandise is hereby
prohibited."
"SEC. 2. That immediately after the passage of this act and on
or before February fifteenth of each year thereafter, the Secretary
of the Treasury shall appoint a board, to consist of seven members,
each of whom shall be an expert in teas, and who shall prepare and
submit to him standard samples of tea; that the person so appointed
shall be at all times subject to removal by the said Secretary, and
shall serve for the term of one year; that vacancies in the said
board occurring by removal, death, resignation, or any other cause
shall be forthwith filled by the Secretary of the Treasury by
appointment, such appointee to hold for the unexpired term; that
said board shall appoint a presiding officer, who shall be the
medium of all communications to or from such board; that each
member of said board shall receive as compensation the sum of fifty
dollars per annum, which, together with all necessary expenses
while engaged upon the duty herein provided, shall be paid out of
the appropriation for 'expenses of collecting the revenue from
customs.'"
"SEC. 3. That the Secretary of the Treasury, upon the
recommendation of the said board, shall fix and establish uniform
standards of purity, quality, and fitness for consumption of all
kinds of teas imported into the United States, and shall procure
and deposit in the custom houses of the ports of New York, Chicago,
San Francisco, and such other ports as he may determine, duplicate
samples of such standards; that said Secretary shall procure a
sufficient number of other duplicate samples of such standards to
supply the importers and dealers in tea at all ports desiring the
same at cost. All teas, or merchandise described as tea, of
inferior purity, quality, and fitness for consumption to such
standards shall be deemed within the prohibition of the first
section hereof."
"SEC. 4. That on making entry at the custom house of all teas,
or merchandise described as tea, imported into the United States,
the importer or consignee shall give a bond to the collector lector
of the port that such merchandise shall not be removed from the
warehouse until released by the collector, after it shall have been
duly examined with reference to is purity, quality, and fitness for
consumption; that, for the purpose of such examination, samples of
each line in every invoice of tea shall be submitted by the
importer or consignee to the examiner, together with the sworn
statement of such importer or consignee that such samples represent
the true quality of each and every part of the invoice and accord
with the specifications therein contained, or, in the discretion of
the Secretary of the Treasury, such samples shall be obtained by
the examiner and compared by him with the standards established by
this act, and in cases where said tea, or merchandise described as
tea, is entered at ports where there is no qualified examiner as
provided in section seven, the consignee or importer shall in the
manner aforesaid furnish under oath a sample of each line of tea to
the collector or other revenue officer to whom is committed the
collection of duties, and said officer shall also draw or cause to
be drawn samples of each line in every invoice, and shall forward
the same to a duly qualified examiner as provided in section seven:
Provided, however, That the bond above required shall also
be conditioned for the payment of all custom-house charges which
may attach to such merchandise prior to its being released or
destroyed (as the case may be) under the provisions of this
act."
"SEC. 5. That if, after an examination as provided in section
four, the tea is found by the examiner to be equal in purity,
quality, and fitness for consumption to the standards hereinbefore
provided, and no reexamination shall be demanded by the collector
as provided in section six, a permit shall at once be granted to
the importer or consignee declaring the tea free from the control
of the customs authorities; but if on examination such tea, or
merchandise described as tea, is found, in the opinion of the
examiner, to be inferior in purity, quality, and fitness for
consumption to the said standards, the importer or consignee shall
be immediately notified, and the tea, or merchandise described as
tea, shall not be released by the custom house, unless on a
reexamination called for by the importer or consignee the finding
of the examiner shall be found to be erroneous:
Provided,
That should a portion of the invoice be passed by the examiner, a
permit shall be granted for that portion and the remainder held for
further examination, as provided in section six."
"SEC. 6. That in case the collector, importer, or consignee
shall protest against the finding of the examiner, the matter in
dispute shall be referred for decision to a board of three United
States general appraisers, to be designated by the Secretary of the
Treasury and if such board shall, after due examination, find the
tea in question to be equal in purity, quality, and fitness for
consumption to the proper standards, a permit shall be issued by
the collector for its release and delivery to the importer; but if
upon such final reexamination by such board the tea shall be found
to be inferior in purity, quality, and fitness for consumption to
the said standards, the importer or consignee shall give a bond,
with security satisfactory to the collector, to export said tea, or
merchandise described as tea, out of the limits of the United
States within a period of six months after such final
reexamination, and if the same shall not have been exported within
the time specified, the collector at the expiration of that time,
shall cause the same to be destroyed."
"SEC. 7. That the examination herein provided for shall be made
by a duly qualified examiner at a port where standard samples are
established, and where the merchandise is entered at ports where
there is no qualified examiner, the examination shall be made at
that one of said ports which is nearest the port of entry, and that
for this purpose samples of the merchandise, obtained in the manner
prescribed by section four of this act, shall be forwarded to the
proper port by the collector or chief officer at the port of entry;
that in all cases of examination or reexamination of teas, or
merchandise described as tea, by examiners or boards of United
States general appraisers under the provisions of this act, the
purity, quality, and fitness for consumption of the same shall be
tested according to the usages and customs of the tea trade,
including the testing of an infusion of the same in boiling water,
and, if necessary, chemical analysis."
"SEC. 8. That in cases of reexamination of teas, or merchandise
described as teas, by a board of United States general appraisers
in pursuance of the provisions hereof, samples of the tea, or
merchandise described as tea, in dispute, for transmission to such
board for its decision, shall be put up and sealed by the examiner
in the presence of the importer or consignee if he so desires, and
transmitted to such board, together with a copy of the finding of
the examiner, setting forth the cause of condemnation and the claim
or ground of the protest of the importer relating to the same, such
samples, and the papers therewith, to be distinguished by such mark
that the same may be identified; that the decision of such board
shall be in writing, signed by them, and transmitted, together with
the record and samples, within three days after the rendition
thereof, to the collector, who shall forthwith furnish the examiner
and the importer or consignee with a copy of said decision or
finding. The board of United States general appraisers herein
provided for shall be authorized to obtain the advice, when
necessary, of persons skilled in the examination of teas, who shall
each receive for his services in any particular case a compensation
not exceeding five dollars."
"SEC. 9. That no imported teas which have been rejected by a
customs examiner or by a board of United States general appraisers,
and exported under the provisions of this act, shall be reimported
into the United States under the penalty of forfeiture for a
violation of this prohibition."
"SEC. 10. That the Secretary of the Treasury shall have the
power to enforce the provisions of this act by appropriate
regulations."
"SEC. 11. That teas actually on shipboard for shipment to the
United States at the time of the passage of this act shall not be
subject to the prohibition hereof, but the provisions of the act
entitled 'An Act To Prevent the Importation of Adulterated and
Spurious Teas,' approved March second, eighteen hundred and
eighty-three, shall be applicable thereto."
"SEC. 12. That the act entitled 'An Act To Prevent the
Importation of Adulterated and Spurious Teas,' approved March
second, eighteen hundred and eighty-three, is hereby repealed, such
repeal to take effect on the date on which this act goes into
effect."
29 Stat. 604, c. 358.
