Bank v. United States

• Decision Date: 30 October 1899
• Docket Number: ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN,No. 31,31
• Citation: 175 U.S. 37,44 L.Ed. 64,20 S.Ct. 19
• Parties: BANK, Limited, Appt. , v. UNITED STATES
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

175 U.S. 37

20 S.Ct. 19

44 L.Ed. 64

ANGLO-CALIFORNIAN BANK, Limited, Appt.,

v UNITED STATES.

No. 31.

Submitted October 11, 1899.

Decided October 30, 1899.

Mr. William Pinkney Whyte for appellant.

Assistant Attorney General Hoyt and Mr. Felix Brannigan for appellee.

Mr. Chief Justice Fuller delivered the opinion of the court:

This was a petition filed in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of California by the Secretary of the Treasury, under the act of June 10, 1890 (26 Stat. at L. 131, chap. 407), commonly known as the customs administrative act, for the review of a decision of the board of general appraisers in the matter of the classification of certain steel T rails imported at San Francisco by the Bank of California and withdrawn on its authority by the Anglo-Californian Bank, Limited. The duties levied by the collector were paid under protest, and the protest sustained by the board of general appraisers. The circuit court reversed the decision of the board (71 Fed. Rep. 505), and the Anglo-Californian Bank carried the case by appeal to the circuit court of appeals for the ninth circuit, which affirmed the decree of the circuit court. 48 U. S. App. 27, 76 Fed. Rep. 742, 22 C. C. A. 527. After an unsuccessful application to this court for a writ of certiorari (166 U. S. 722, 41 L. ed. 1188, 17 Sup. Ct. Rep. 991), the bank prayed the pending appeal, and the cause, coming on for argument, was submitted on printed briefs.

The proceedings were carried on below in the name of the Secretary of the Treasury, but in this court, by agreement, the United States were properly substituted as a party. United States v. Jahn, 155 U. S. 109, 39 L. ed. 87, 15 Sup. Ct. Rep. 39; United States v. Hopewell, 5 U. S. App. 137, 51 Fed. Rep. 798, 2 C. C. A. 510.

The judiciary act of March 3, 1891 (26 Stat. at L. 826, chap. 517), provides for the review of the final decisions of the circuit courts by this court and by the circuit courts of appeals. Section 5 specifies the classes of cases which may be brought directly to this court, and section 6 confers appellate jurisdiction in all other cases on the circuit courts of appeals, whose judgments or decrees in certain enumerated classes of cases are made final by the statute. At the same time the section provides that the circuit courts of appeals may certify to this court any questions or propositions of law concerning which instruction is desired for the proper decision of pending cases, and that these may be answered or the whole cause required to be sent up for consideration. And it is also provided that those cases in which the judgments or decrees of the circuit courts of appeals are made final may be required by this court, by certiorari or otherwise, to be certified to it for review and determination.

This is not an appeal from the circuit court directly to this court, nor does the case fall within either of the classes of cases enumerated in § 5, in which such an appeal would lie.

No question or proposition of law concerning which the circuit court of appeals desired the advice of this court was certified, and, on the contrary, the decree of the circuit court was affirmed by the judgment of the circuit court of appeals, with costs.

The case is not before us on certiorari, but on appeal, and an appeal does not lie in those cases in which the judgments or...