The tariff law of 1846, passed on 30 July, 9 Stat. 42, contains
no special mention of imported sheepskins, dried with the wool
remaining on them.
They must be regarded as a nonenumerated article, and charged,
with a duty of twenty percent
ad valorem.
The plaintiffs in error, W. W. De Forest & Co. sued the
collector to recover back money paid under protest, for duties on
importations into New York, in the years 1847 and 1848, from Buenos
Ayres, invoiced as sheepskins, having the wool on them.
The collector under instructions from the Secretary of the
Treasury demanded and received a duty of thirty percent
ad
valorem on the wool upon the sheepskins, and a duty of five
percent
ad valorem upon the pelts.
The wool upon the skins was appraised at . . . . .
$18,596.52
Duty thereon at thirty percent . . . 5,578.95
Skins without the wool . . . . . . . . 9,972.14
Duty thereon at five percent . . . . 498.60
----------
Total valuation of wool and skins. . . $28,568.66
----------
Total duty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 6,077.55
Whilst the collector thus charged one duty upon the skin and
another upon the wool, the importers claimed to enter the articles
at a duty of five percent upon the whole, and the court decided
that the proper duty to be charged was twenty percent upon the
entire valuation.
The cause of this great difference of opinion was as
follows:
By the Act of 19 May, 1828, 4 Stat. 271, chap. 55, sec. 2, first
paragraph, a duty is imposed on wool unmanufactured: "And all wool
imported on the skin shall be estimated as to weight and value, and
shall pay the same rate of duty, as other imported wool."
By the Act of July 14, 1832, same vol. chap. 227, sec. 2, first
paragraph, 584, wool unmanufactured is charged with duty:
"Provided, that wool imported on the skin shall be estimated, as to
weight and value, as other wool."
By the Act of 30 August, 1842, 5 Stat. chap. 270,
Page 54 U. S. 275
sec. 1, paragraph first, 548, a duty on wool unmanufactured is
imposed: "Provided, also, that wool imported on the skin shall be
estimated, as to weight and value, as other wool."
In the 5th section and sixth paragraph of that same act of 1842,
p. 554, duties are imposed
"On sheepskins, tanned and dressed, or skivers, two dollars per
dozen; on goat or sheepskins, tanned and not dressed, one dollar
per dozen; on all kid and lambskins, tanned and not dressed,
seventy-five cents per dozen; and on skins tanned and dressed,
otherwise than in color, to-wit, fawn, kid, and lamb, usually known
as chamois, one dollar per dozen; . . . on raw hides of all kinds,
whether dried or salted, five percent
ad valorem; on all
skins pickled and in casks, not specified, twenty percent
ad
valorem."
Subsequently to these three statutes, so mentioning and
distinguishing those three several classes of imports, same the
statute of 30 July, 1846, 9 Stat. Little & Brown, chap. 74, 42,
entitled "An act reducing the duties on imports, and for other
purposes."
The first section enacted that from and after the first day of
December then next,
"In lieu of the duties heretofore imposed by law on the articles
hereinafter mentioned, and on such as may be now exempt from duty,
there shall be collected, levied, and paid, on the goods, wares,
and merchandise, herein enumerated and provided for, imported from
foreign countries, the following rates of duty."
Then follows the enumeration of various articles, subject to
various duties, in schedules from A to H, ranging from duties of
one hundred percentum to five percentum
ad valorem.
Section 2 enacts that the goods "mentioned in schedule I, shall
be exempt from duty."
Section 3 imposes on all goods, wares, and merchandise imported
from foreign countries, "and not specially provided for in this
act, a duty of twenty percentum
ad valorem."
In schedule C, of articles subject to thirty percent
ad
valorem, "wool unmanufactured" is mentioned, but "wool
imported upon the skin" is not specially provided for therein. In
schedule H, among other articles subject to the duty of five
percent
ad valorem, "raw hides and skins of all kinds,
whether dried, salted, or pickled," are mentioned; but "wool
imported on the skin" is not therein mentioned. In schedule I, of
articles exempt from duty, wool imported on the skin, is not
mentioned, neither is it mentioned in anyone of the schedules, from
A to I inclusive.
On the trial of the case in the circuit court, Mr. Justice
Nelson instructed the jury that the article came most appropriately
within the schedule of nonenumerated articles, and as such was
chargeable with a duty of twenty percent.
Page 54 U. S. 276
To which charge the counsel for the plaintiffs excepted, on the
ground that the court should have charged the jury that the article
imported by the plaintiffs, raw sheepskins dried, fell under
schedule H, of the Tariff of 1846, and was not a nonenumerated
article, but on the contrary, was enumerated under said schedule H,
and was liable only to a duty of five percent, and not to a duty of
20 percent. That the said article being a raw skin dried, and being
not otherwise specifically provided for in said act, was liable
only to the same rate of duty as all other raw skins dried. And the
counsel for the said plaintiffs requested the court to charge the
said jury accordingly, which request was refused by the court, and
the counsel for the plaintiffs thereupon excepted.
Upon this exception, the cause came up to this Court.
Page 54 U. S. 279
MR. JUSTICE NELSON delivered the opinion of the Court.
The action was brought by the plaintiffs against the defendant,
the late collector of the port of New York, to recover back an
excess of duties paid under protest on an article imported from
Buenos Ayres, described in the invoices and entries as
"sheepskins." The importations were under the Tariff Act of 1846.
The article was imported with the wool on the skins, and by the
instructions
Page 54 U. S. 280
of the Secretary of the Treasury, the collector was directed to
cause the wool to be estimated and appraised, and to be charged
with a duty of thirty percent
ad valorem under schedule C,
and five percent on the skin, under schedule H. The plaintiffs
claim that no more than a duty of five percent
ad valorem
should be charged upon the entire article. It is usually described,
in the invoices, and shipped as sheepskins, and known in trade and
commerce by that designation. The skin is in the same condition as
when taken from the animal, except it is dried. It is not
dressed.
The court below charged the jury, that the article came within
neither of the schedules mentioned, but was more properly a
nonenumerated article, and chargeable with a duty of twenty percent
ad valorem. And judgment was rendered in the case
accordingly.
By the Act of May 19, 1828, 4 Stat. 271, sec. 2, a duty is
charged upon wool imported on the skin, and direction is given to
estimate it as to weight and value, and impose the same duty as on
other imported wool.
A similar provision is found in the Act of July 14, 1832,
id. 584, sec. 2, and also, in the Act of August 30, 1842,
5
id. 548
The article is not enumerated according to its previous
designation in the revenue laws in the act of July 30, 1846,
Sess.Laws, 68, and, of course, no duty is specifically charged upon
it in that act as in the previous acts. But it is claimed, on the
part of the plaintiffs, that it falls within the description under
schedule H, "raw hides, and skins of all kinds, whether dried,
salted, or pickled, not otherwise provided for," and which are
chargeable only with a duty of five percent
ad
valorem.
This description was obviously taken from the act of 1842, sec.
5, par. 6, "on raw hides of all kinds, whether dried or salted,
five percent
ad valorem; on all skins pickled, and in
casks, not specified, twenty percent ad. valorem."
The only difference between this act, and the present one is
that the two classes, "raw hides," and "skins," are now ranged in
one class, and the duty of five percent charged upon each. "Skins
pickled," are classed with "raw hides dried or salted," which
latter article, it is well known, is extensively imported into the
country for the purpose of being manufactured into leather, and the
duty is fixed at a low rate for the encouragement of the
manufacturer.
In this same act of 1842, it will be remembered, sheepskins,
imported with the wool on, were charged with a specific duty, the
same as unmanufactured wool, thus distinguishing the article from
skins pickled, referred to in the 6th paragraph of the 5th section
of that act.
Page 54 U. S. 281
We have no doubt, from the association of skins with raw hides
in the act of 1846, in connection with the description, and
classification in the act of 1842, that they should be regarded as
an article imported, like raw hides, for the purpose of being
manufactured, and by no reasonable construction can be regarded as
descriptive of the article in question.
The argument is quite as strong, and we think stronger, in favor
of ranging the article under the clause in schedule E: "skins of
all kinds, not otherwise provided for," and which is chargeable
with a duty of twenty percent
ad valorem.
Neither do we think that the article can be separated, and a
duty charged separately upon the estimated quantity of the wool,
and upon the skin, according to the rate chargeable upon each. This
would be the introduction of a principle in the construction of the
revenue acts heretofore unknown, and which has no countenance in
the provisions of the acts themselves.
The 20th section of the act of 1842 looks to the component parts
of a manufactured article of two or more materials in fixing the
duty, but does not separate it, and charge the duty on each part
according to the class to which it belongs. It assesses the duty on
the entire article at the highest rate at which any of the
component parts might be charged.
It is difficult also to say to what length this principle, if
admitted, must be carried in construing these acts. It could not,
consistently, be limited to the article in question, for while
skins, dried, are charged only with the duty of five percent
ad
valorem, "hair of all kinds" is chargeable with a duty of ten
percent, and the same rule of construction that would separate the
sheepskin, and charge a duty separately on the wool, and on the
skin, would require the deerskin, with the hair on, to be
separated, and the duty to be levied on each part. And so, in
respect to every other skin dried, salted, or pickled, imported
with the hair on.
It is true that in the acts of 1828, 1832, and 1842, in each of
which a specific duty was charged upon the wool imported on
sheepskins, the appraisers were directed to estimate the weight and
value, for the purpose of assessing the duty. But the article was
not divided, as no separate duty was assessed upon the skin by
either of these acts. The act of 1842 assessed a duty upon "skins
pickled and in casks," but skins imported with the wool on, when
separated from the wool, would not fall within this description.
The whole duty, therefore, that could be properly assessed upon the
article was assessed upon the estimated quantity of wool imported
upon it.
The article has never been classed in any of the tariff acts
under the designation of skins, but has been charged always,
Page 54 U. S. 282
since it came under the notice of these acts, with a specific
duty. It has been thus charged since the act of 1828 down to the
present act, a period of some eighteen years. And, although it has
been invoiced, and is known in trade and commence, by the
designation of sheepskin raw, and dried, and may, generally
speaking, be properly ranged under the denomination of skins, as a
class; yet, having a known designation in the revenue acts,
distinct from the general class to which it might otherwise be
assigned, we must regard the article in the light in which it is
viewed by these acts, rather than in trade and commerce. For when
Congress, in legislating on the subject of duties, has described an
article so as to identify it by a given designation for revenue
purposes, and this has been so long continued as to impress on it a
particular designation as an article of import, then it must be
treated as a distinct article, whether there be evidence that it is
so known in commerce or not. It must be taken as thus known in the
sense of the revenue laws, by reason of the legal designation given
to it, and by which it has been known and practiced on at the
custom house.
It is but fair to presume, after having been treated by the
lawmakers for a considerable length of time as an article known by
this designation, with a view to the assessment of the rate of duty
upon it, that, if intended to be charged specifically, or by
enumeration, the designation by which it was known to them would
have been used, instead of the one known to trade and commerce, if
that should be different.
The 3d section of the act of 1846 enacts that on all goods,
wares, and merchandise -- not specifically provided for in the act,
a duty of twenty percent
ad valorem shall be charged.
Under the foregoing view of the law of the case, sheepskins,
imported with the wool on, must be regarded as a nonenumerated
article, and fall within this third section.
The probability is that the enumeration was omitted from an
oversight, else the article would have been chargeable with a duty
in the way provided for in the act of 1842. But, having been
omitted, and not specifically provided for, it necessarily comes
within the section mentioned, and subject to a duty of twenty
percent
ad valorem.
We are of opinion, therefore, the judgment of the court below
was right, and should be
Affirmed.
Order
This cause came on to be heard on the transcript of the record
from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York, and was argued by counsel,
Page 54 U. S. 283
on consideration whereof, it is now here ordered and adjudged by
this Court that the judgment of the said circuit court in this
cause be and the same is hereby affirmed with costs and damages at
the rate of six percent per annum.
