1. For tariff purposes, Congress has at all times since the
passage of the Act of May 2, 1792, 1 Stat. 259, intended to
preserve the distinction between "chocolate" and
"confectionery."
2. Chocolate,
eo nomine, is, by the first section of
the Act of June 6, 1872, 17 Stat. 231, dutiable at the rate of five
cents per pound, and although put up in a particular form and sold
as "confectionery," is not subjected to the duty imposed on the
latter article by the first section of the Act of June 30, 1864, 13
id. 202.
This was an action by A. Stephani & Co., to recover an
Page 96 U. S. 126
alleged excess of duty paid upon certain chocolate imported by
them from Liverpool in 1873, and upon which the collector of the
port of New York, holding it to be "confectionery," exacted a duty
of fifty cents per pound
ad valorem, under the first
section of the Act of June 30, 1864, 13 Stat. 202. The importers
claimed it to be dutiable as "chocolate" under the first section of
the Act of June 6, 1872, 17
id. 231, which imposes a duty
of five cents per pound.
The case was tried by the court below without the intervention
of a jury, and by an agreed statement of facts it was admitted that
the chocolate was in boxes containing thirty-six little bricks,
done up in separate papers, each box weighing about half a pound,
and that the chocolate, being such as is ordinarily sold by
confectioners as confectionery, and by the box or package, was
valued at over thirty cents per pound. It was also admitted that
chocolate comes in other forms.
Judgment having been rendered in favor of the plaintiffs, the
collector brought the case here.
MR. JUSTICE HUNT delivered the opinion of the Court.
The first section of the Act of June 30, 1864, imposes
"on all confectionery not otherwise provided for, made wholly or
in part of sugar, valued at thirty cents per pound or less, a duty
of fifteen cents per pound; on all confectionery valued above
thirty cents per pound, or when sold by the box, package, or
otherwise than by the pound, fifty percent
ad
valorem."
13 Stat. 202.
The Act of June 6, 1872, imposes a duty of five cents per pound
"on chocolate." 17
id. 231.
The article in question was chocolate simply, but presented in a
form in which it was ordinarily sold as confectionery. Was it
dutiable as confectionery or as chocolate?
The case differs from those already decided in this, that the
last act expressing the legislative will is that which imposes the
lower rate of duty. It is like the others in this, that it presents
the question whether the articles are dutiable under general
Page 96 U. S. 127
terms which may embrace them, or under that specific language
which can be applied to nothing else. That the latter is the rule
by which the duty is fixed is too well settled to require argument.
Reiche v.
Smythe, 13 Wall. 162;
Homer v.
The Collector, 1 Wall. 486;
Movius v.
Arthur, 95 U. S. 144.
Should it be admitted, therefore, that chocolate is composed in
part of the same substances that enter into the composition of
ordinary confectionery, it must nevertheless stand upon the customs
list as the distinct article so often described in the acts of
Congress by its specific name.
As early as 1792, chocolate,
eo nomine, was subjected
to a duty of three cents per pound. 1 Stat. 259.
In 1816, the same duty was again imposed upon it. 3
id.
311.
In 1824, a duty of four cents per pound was imposed upon it by
name. 4
id. 28.
In the Revised Statutes, it is subject to a duty of five cents
per pound. Rev.Stat. p. 478.
Contemporaneously and side by side, all the way down, the
statutes provide for different rates of duty on the varieties of
sugar and on confectionery, as well as on chocolate. Confectionery
and chocolate are uniformly recognized as being different articles
for the purpose of duties.
In the first paragraph of sec. 8 of the Tariff Act of 1842, 5
Stat. 558, sugar of various kinds, comfits, sweetmeats, and
confectionery are subject to a duty of twenty-five percent
ad
valorem; in the second paragraph of the same section, a duty
four cents per pound is imposed upon "chocolate."
In the Tariff Act of 1846, 9
id. 44, "comfits and
sweetmeats" are dutiable at forty percent, "confectionery" of all
kinds, at thirty percent, and "chocolate," at twenty percent.
In the Act of 1861, "comfits and sweetmeats" are placed at
thirty percent, "confectionery of all kinds not otherwise provided
for," at thirty percent; "chocolate" at twenty percent. 12
id. 180, 189.
By the Act of July, 1870, chocolate is again made dutiable by
name, 16
id. 262, and again by the Act of June, 1872, 17
id. 231.
In the Revised Statutes, "sugar candy and confectionery" are
Page 96 U. S. 128
provided for, as are "comfits, sweetmeats, and preserved
fruits," and, separately, "chocolate," at a different rate of duty.
Rev.Stat. pp. 472, 478.
It is quite evident that Congress has at all times intended to
preserve the distinction between these articles, and that the
circuit judge decided correctly when he held that chocolate,
although in the form and of the character described, was not
dutiable as "confectionery" under the Act of 1864.
Judgment affirmed.
