Edye v. Robertson

• Decision Date: 08 December 1884
• Parties: EDYE and another v. ROBERTSON, Collector, etc. 1
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

112 U.S. 580

5 S.Ct. 247

28 L.Ed. 798

EDYE and another v. ROBERTSON, Collector, etc.¹ [In Error to the Circuit

Court of the United States for the Eastern

District of New York.]

CUNARD STEAM-SHIP CO. (Limited)

v ROBERTSON, Collector, etc.²

SAME

v SAME.

[In Error to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.]

December 8, 1884.

[Syllabus and statement of facts from pages 580-582 intentionally omitted] Geo. De Forest Lord, for Cunard Steam-ship Co.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 582-584 intentionally omitted] Philip J. Joachimsen and Edwards Pierrepont, for Edye and others.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 584-586 intentionally omitted] Sol. Gen. Phillips, for Robertson, Collector, etc.

MILLER, J.

These cases all involve the same questions of law, and have been argued before this court together. The case at the head of the list presents all the facts in the form of an agreed statement signed by counsel, and it therefore brings the questions before us very fully. The other two were decided by the circuit court on demurrer to the declaration. They will be disposed of here in one opinion, which will have reference to the case as made by the record in Edye et al. v. Robertson. The suit is brought to recover from Robertson the sum of money received by him, as collector of the port of New York, from plaintiffs, on account of their landing in that port passengers from foreign ports, not citizens of the United States, at the rate of 50 cents for each of such passengers, under the act of congress of August 3, 1882, entitled 'An act to regulate immigration.' The petition of plaintiffs and the agreed facts, which are also made the finding of the court to which the case was submitted without a jury, are the same with regard to each of many arrivals of vessels of the plaintiffs, except as to the name of the vessel and the number and age of the passengers. The statement as to the arrival first named, which is here given, will be sufficient for them all, for the purposes of this opinion.

The following are admitted to be the facts in this action: '(1) That the plaintiffs are partners in trade in the city of New York under the firm name of Funch, Edye & Co., and carry on the business of transporting passengers and freight upon the high seas between Holland and the United States of America as consignees and agents. That on the second day of October, 1882, there arrived, consigned to the plaintiffs, the Dutch ship Leerdam, owned by certain citizens or subjects of the kingdom of Holland, and belonging to the nationality of Holland, at the port of New York. She had sailed from the foreign port of Rotterdam, in Holland, bound to New York, and carried 382 persons not citizens of the United States. That among said 382 persons 20 were severally under the age of one year and 59 were severally between the ages of one year and eight years. That upon the arrival of said steam-ship Leerdam within the collection district of New York, the master thereof gave, in pursuance to section 9 of the passenger act of 1882, and delivered to the custom-house officer, who first came on board the vessel and made demand therefor, a correct list, signed by the master, of all the passengers taken on board of said Leerdam at said Rotterdam, specifying separately the names of the cabin passengers, their age, sex, calling, and the country of which they are citizens, and also the name, age, sex, calling, and native country of each emigrant passenger or passengers other than cabin passengers, and their intended destination or location, and in all other respects complying with said ninth section, and a duplicate of the aforesaid list of passengers, verified by the oath of the master, was, with the manifest of the cargo, delivered by the master to the defendant as col- lector of customs of the port of New York on the entry of said vessel. That it appears from the said list of passengers and duplicate that the said 382 persons were each and every one subjects of Holland or other foreign powers in treaty of peace, amity, and commerce with the United States. That the said passenger manifest also states the total number of passengers, and shows that 20 of them were under one year of age, and 59 between the ages of one year and eight years. That said collector, before allowing complete entry of said vessel, as collector decided, on the twelfth day of October, 1882, that the plaintiffs must pay a duty of one hundred and ninety-one dollars for said passengers, being fifty cents for each of said 382 passengers. That by the regulations of the treasury department the non-payment of said 191 dollars would have permitted the defendant to refuse the complete entry of the vessel, or to refuse to give her a clearance from the port of New York to her home port, and such imposition would have created an apparent lien on said vessel for said sum of 191 dollars. On the defendants making such demand the plaintiffs paid the same and protested against the payment thereof. That a copy of the protest in regard to said Leerdam is annexed to the complaint, marked 'No. 1,' and is a correct copy of the protest. That on the same day the plaintiffs duly appealed to the secretary of treasury from such decision of the collector, and that the paper marked 'Appeal No. 2,' annexed to the complaint, is a copy of said appeal. On the eighteenth October, 1882, the secretary of the treasury sustained the action of the defendant, and this action is brought within ninety days after the rendering of such decision. That the payment set forth in the complaint herein was levied and collected by defendant, and the same was paid under and in pursuance of an act of congress entitled 'An act to regulate emigration,' approved August 3, 1882.'

On the facts as thus agreed and as found by the circuit court, a judgment was rendered in favor of defendant, which we are called upon to review. There is no complaint by plaintiffs that the defendant violated this act in any respect but one, namely, that it did not authorize him to demand anything for the 20 children under one year old, and for the 59 who were between the ages of one year and eight years. The supposed exception of this class of passengers does not arise out of any language found in this act to regulate immigration, nor any policy on which it is founded, but it is based by counsel on a provision of an act approved one day earlier than this, entitled 'An act to regulate the carriage of passengers by sea.' This provision limits the number of passengers which the vessel may carry by the number of cubic feet of space in which they are to be carried, and it declares that, in making this calculation, children of the ages mentioned need not be counted. In reference to the space they will occupy this principle is reasonable. But, as regards the purpose of the immigration act to raise a fund for the sick, the poor, and the helpless immigrant, children are as likely to require its aid as adults, probably more so. They are certainly within the definition of the word 'passenger,' when otherwise within the purview of the act. This branch of the case requires no further consideration.

The other errors assigned, however numerous or in whatever language presented, all rest on the proposition that the act of congress requiring the collector to demand and receive from the master, owner, or consignee of each vessel arriving from a foreign port, 50 cents for every passenger whom he brings into a port of the United States who is not a citizen, is without warrant in the constitution and is void. The substance of the act is found in its first section, namely:

'AN ACT TO REGULATE IMMIGRATION.

'Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, that there shall be levied, collected, and paid a duty of fifty cents for each and every passenger, not a citizen of the United States, who shall come by steam or sail vessel from a foreign port to any port within the United States. The said duty shall be paid to the collector of customs of the port to which such passenger shall come, or if there be no collector at such port, then to the collector of customs nearest thereto, by the master, owner, agent, or consignee of every such vessel, within twenty-four hours after the entry thereof into such port. The money thus collected shall be paid into the United States treasury, and shall constitute a fund to be called the immigrant fund, and shall be used, under the direction of the secretary of the treasury, to defray the expenses of regulating immigration under this act, and for the care of immigrants arriving in the United States, for the relief of such as are in distress, and for the general purposes and expenses of carrying this act into effect.'

The act further authorizes the secretary to use the aid of any state organization or officer for carrying into effect the beneficent objects of this law, by distributing the fund in accordance with the purpose for which it was raised, not exceeding in any port the sum received from it, under rules and regulations to be prescribed by him. It directs that such officers shall go on board vessels arriving from abroad, and if, on examination, they shall find any convict, lunatic, idiot, or any person unable to take care of himself or herself, without becoming a public charge, they shall report to the collector, and such person shall not be permitted to land. It is also enacted that convicts, except for political offenses, shall be returned to the nations to which they belong. And the secretary is directed to prepare rules for the protection of the immigrant who needs it, and for the return of those who are not permitted to land. This act of congress is similar, in its essential features, to many statutes enacted by states of the Union for the protection of their own citizens, and for the good of the immigrants who land at sea-ports within...