Buttfield v. Bidwell

• Decision Date: 18 July 1899
• Docket Number: 161.
• Parties: BUTTFIELD v. BIDWELL et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

96 F. 328

BUTTFIELD v. BIDWELL et al.

No. 161.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

July 18, 1899

James L. Bishop, for appellant.

Edward B. Whitney, for appellees.

Before PECKHAM, Circuit Justice, and WALLACE and SHIPMAN, Circuit judges.

PER CURIAM.

The basic question in this case is as to the true construction of the act of congress of March 2, 1897, entitled 'An act to prevent the importation of impure and unwholesome tea. ' Section 1 makes it unlawful 'to import or bring into the United States any merchandise as tea which is inferior in purity, quality and fitness for consumption to the standards provided in section 3 of this act, and the importation of all such merchandise is hereby prohibited. ' Section 2 provides for the appointment by the secretary of the treasury, immediately after the passage of the act, and on or before February 15th of each subsequent year, of a board of tea experts, 'who shall prepare and submit to him standard examples of tea. ' Section 3 provides that the secretary of the treasury, upon the recommendation of said board, 'shall fix and establish uniform standards of purity, quality and fitness for consumption of all kinds of teas imported into the United States,' samples of such standards to be deposited in various custom houses, and supplied to importers and dealers at cost, and declares that 'all teas, or merchandise described as tea, of inferior purity, quality and fitness for consumption to such standards shall be deemed within the prohibition of the first section hereof. ' Sections 4-7 provide for the examination of importations of tea, for a re-examination by the board of general appraisers in case of a protest by the importer or collector against the finding of the primary examiner, and for testing the purity, quality, and fitness for consumption in all cases of examination or re-examination 'according to the usages and customs of the tea trade including the test of an infusion of the same in boiling water, and, if necessary, chemical analysis. ' The complainant alleges that the secretary of the treasury assuming to act under the authority of these provisions, has fixed and established standards of purity, quality, and fitness for consumption of teas, but that the defendants under regulations and instructions promulgated by the secretary, have continuously excluded from import into the United States, and threaten to continue to do so, teas in all...