Arthur v. Unkart

• Decision Date: 01 October 1877
• Citation: 96 U.S. 118,24 L.Ed. 768
• Parties: ARTHUR v. UNKART
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

96 U.S. 118

24 L.Ed. 768

ARTHUR v. UNKART.

October Term, 1877

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

In May, 1873, Unkart & Co. imported into New York certain merchandise, upon which the plaintiff in error, the collector of the port, assessed and collected a duty of sixty per cent, under the eighth section of the act of June 30, 1864 (13 Stat. 210), which imposed a duty of sixty per cent on various articles of clothing made of silk; naming hats, gloves, &c. The concluding clause of the section is as follows: 'On all manufactures of silk, or of which silk is the component of chief value, not otherwise provided for, fifty per cent ad valorem.'

Against the imposition of that rate of duty the importers protested in due form, upon the ground that such merchandise, being gloves and similar articles made on frames, not otherwise provided for, is only liable to duty under the twenty-second section of the act of March 2, 1861, and the thirteenth section of the act of July 14, 1862, at the rate of thirty-five per cent ad valorem, less ten per cent; under the second section of the act of June 6, 1872, as a manufacture of cotton, or of which cotton is the component part of chief value.

Upon the trial of this action, which was to recover the excess so paid, it was conceded that the articles in question were gloves; that they were commercially known as 'silk-plaited gloves,' or 'patent gloves;' that they were manufactured in part of silk and in part of cotton, and were made on frames.

The court charged the jury, that, while the burden of proof was upon the plaintiffs to show that they had fulfilled all the formal, ordinary prerequisites to bringing their action, it was upon the defendant to justify his exaction of the duty imposed, so that it was for them to be satisfied that the evidence fairly preponderated in favor of the defendant, that the materials which were the component of chief value in the gloves in question were silk; otherwise, the plaintiffs were entitled to a verdict, there being no question on the evidence but that the prerequisites in regard to which the burden rested upon the plaintiffs had been complied with. The jury found that cotton was the chief component of value in the gloves, and that the value of the silk therein was less than that of the cotton, and gave their verdict for the plaintiffs.

Mr. Assistant-Attorney-General Smith for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. Stephen G. Clarke, contra.

MR. JUSTICE HUNT delivered the opinion of the court.

The twenty-second section of the act of March 2, 1861 (12 Stat. 191), provided a duty of thirty per cent on many articles, and, among them, 'caps, gloves, leggins, mits, socks, stockings, wove shirts and drawers, and all similar articles made on frames, of whatever material composed, worn by men, women, or children, and not otherwise provided for.'

The thirteenth section of the act of July 14, 1862 (id. 556), increases this duty by the same descriptive terms, five per cent ad valorem.

By the act of June 6, 1872 (17 id. 230), the duties upon manufactures of cotton, having cotton as the component of chief value, were reduced ten per cent.

The articles in question did not come within the general terms of the eighth section of the act of 1864, for these reasons: 1st, They were not silk gloves, by reason of their component materials being composed of silk and cotton, the latter material preponderating; 2d, they were commercially known as 'plaited gloves,' or 'patent gloves,' and not as silk gloves.

They did not fall within the concluding clause, because silk was not the component of chief value. The facts here stated are founded upon the concessions of the parties at the trial and upon the verdict of the jury.

Not being included in the act of 1864, the articles are dutiable under the acts of 1861 and 1862, where they are enumerated as gloves made on frames, and by the act of 1862, which adds five per cent to the duty of 1861.

The suggestion is made that the articles may be taxed under the similitude clause of the act of Aug. 30, 1842. 5 Stat. 565; Rev. Stat., sect. 2499. This provision, by its terms, applies to non-enumerated articles only (Stuart v. Maxwell, 16 How. 150); and no such claim was made on the trial that it applied to this case. Among the ten carefully prepared points presenting the views of the government, there is no reference made to the similitude act of 1842. Neither the collector in imposing the tax, nor the counsel at the trial, professed to act under or to demand any advantage from the act of 1842. The right of the government was placed exclusively upon the act of 1864. Upon the point of the rate of duties to which the goods were liable, we are of the opinion that the importers were right, and were entitled to a return of the excess paid by them.

There is, however, a further question in the case. The counsel for the defendant requested the court to charge, that, in this action to recover for an alleged illegal exaction of duties, it devolved upon the plaintiff to make out his case, by showing the illegality complained of; that the burden of proof was on the plaintiff to satisfy the jury, by a fair preponderance of evidence, as to the character of the materials of the gloves. The court refused this request, but charged the jury 'that the burden of proof is upon the defendant to justify his exaction of the duty imposed, so that it is for you to be satisfied that the evidence fairly preponderates in favor of the defendant, that the materials which are the component of chief value are silk, otherwise the plaintiffs are entitled to a verdict.'

It is not doubted that it was the duty of the collector, in the first instance, to decide whether the articles imported were dutiable, and at what rate. The statute makes it his duty. Neither can it be doubted that unless protest is made within ten days, and unless an appeal is taken to the Secretary of the Treasury within thirty days after such decision, the decision of the collector on these...