Hilton v. Merritt

• Decision Date: 14 January 1884
• Citation: 3 S.Ct. 548,110 U.S. 97,28 L.Ed. 83
• Parties: HILTON and another v. MERRITT, Collector, etc., of the Port of New York. Filed
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

110 U.S. 97

3 S.Ct. 548

28 L.Ed. 83

HILTON and another v. MERRITT, Collector, etc., of the Port of New York.

Filed January 14, 1884.

H. E. Tremaine, for plaintiffs in error.

Sol. Gen. Phillips, for defendant in error.

WOODS, J.

It appears from the bill of exceptions found in the record that the withdrawal entry of the packages on which the duty occasioning this controversy arose was made October 23, 1878. The local appraiser made and reported to the collector his appraisement of the goods. The importers being dissatisfied therewith, demanded a reappraisement according to law, which was allowed, and a merchant appraiser appointed to be associated with one of the general appraisers. The merchant appraiser made an appraisement of the standard gloves at 42 francs per dozen, and of the invoice at 16,613.10 francs, which corresponded with the importer's invoice and entered valuation of the merchandise in question. The general appraiser made a report of his appraisement on the same day, in which he put the value of the standard gloves at 52 francs, and the total valuation at 20,282.85 francs. Upon receiving these and other appraisements, the collector wrote to the general appraiser a letter dated October 10, 1878, in which he said:

'I have received the reports on the reappraisement of gloves entered by Wilmerding, Hoguet & Co., per S. S. Lessing; Iselin, Neeser & Co., per S. S. Pereire; and A. T. Stewart & Co., per S. S. Mosel, together with a mass of testimony taken at the hearing, and a special report from yourself, giving in extenso your reasons for differing from the merchant appraisers in these cases. The merchant appraisers sustain the invoices or entered value, while you advance the value in two of the cases upwards of 20 per cent. The law requires the collector, in cases of difference, to decide between the merchant and general appraiser. I find that it has been the almost universal practice for the collector, under these circumstances, to adopt the higher valuation. Unwilling to accept this easy me hod of disposing of troublesome questions, and believing it to be the duty of a government officer, while carefully protecting the revenue, to see that no injustice is done to the merchant, I have personally devoted much time and attention to the examination of the evidence presented.

'It is a matter of surprise that three 'discreet' merchants should differ so widely from the general appraiser. With no disposition to evade the responsibility placed upon me by the law, I consider that the interests involved and the vexatious delays in reaching a satisfactory conclusion require that an effort should be made to fix a value which will remain unchallenged. I have therefore to suggest that you re-examine the evidence, in the hope that a result may be reached which shall not, on the one hand, make it appear that the merchants of New York cannot be relied upon to give a fair hearing and correct judgment on a question of value, or, on the other hand, that the government seeks and enforces, by its might, that which is unjust. I would call your attention to the conflicting evidence as to the similarity of the glove marketed in London and New York. I would also call your attention to the amount to be added per button to represent the true value. I find it difficult, from the evidence, to fix this amount at five francs per dozen. The three reports are returned herewith.'

To this letter the general appraiser replied, by letter of the same date, stating, among other things, as follows:

'As to the invoices under consideration I do not feel at liberty to formally withdraw the reports I have already presented, because they were founded on the evidence received on the reasppraisements, and I think it best that they should stand as expressing my convictions based on that evidence. If, however, you are willing to retain them as memoranda for that purpose, and will accept as substitutes therefor the additional reports which I present herewith, and have designated as 'amended' reports, I shall feel that I have met, to the best of my ability, the considerations which your letter sets forth.'

The amended report of the general appraiser fixed the value of the merchandise in question in this case at 49 francs. The collector on October 23, 1878, assessed the duty, 50 per cent. ad valorem, on the merchandise, based on a valuation of the standard glove at 49 francs, adopting the appratisment returned in the amended report of the general appraiser, that being an advance of the invoice value of 16.2 per cent., and imposed an additional duty of 20 per cent. ad valorem on account of undervaluation in the entry. The importers, the plaintiffs in error, duly protested against the action of the collector and, under protest, paid the duties assessed, and appealed to the secretary of the treasury, who, on November 11, 1878, approved the decision of the collector, holding, however, that the correctness of the valuation was not a matter subject to appeal. Upon the trial of the case the plaintiffs offered in evidence the record of the proceedings before the merchant appraiser and the general appraiser, including the testimony and various documents before those officers, and subsequently before the collector. They also offered the testimony of one Hildreth, an expert, and others, to show the foreign market value of gloves at the principal markets of France, whence the merchandise in question was imported. They also offered the testimony of the collector to show all the facts within his knowledge, or officially acted upon by him, in relation to the invoice in question, and to show what his experience was in valuing kid gloves. They also offered to prove the cost of the manufacture of goods similar to those in question. All the evidence so offered was excluded by the court, and the plaintiffs excepted.

It also appears from the bill of exceptions that the plaintiffs' counsel claimed the right to go to the jury upon the questions: (1) whether the collecter, acting as appra ser, fully and fairly examined the goods; (2) whether the goods were invoiced at their fair and actual value in the principal markets of France at the time of the exportation; (3) whether a fair examination of the goods was made by the general appraiser, associated with the merchant appraiser, when that matter was referred to him; (4) whether the facts stated in the protests to the appraisers had been established by the evidence; and (5) whether the appraisers followed the evidence before them or disregarded it, and whether the collector disregarded the evidence or was negligent in his appraisal. The plaintiffs also asked the court to charge the jury that if the collector did not fully and fairly examine the goods, then the verdict need not necessarily follow the appraisement; and that, the general appraiser not having re-examined the goods after he made his first report, the jury was not concluded by his report at 49 francs, or the collector's action thereon. The court refused to submit the questions aforesaid to the jury or to charge the jury as requested, and the plaintiffs excepted. The bill of exceptions further states that no claim was made to submit to the jury any question of fraud on the part of the collector or appraiser, and that no claim was made during the trial that any excluded evidence was offered for the purpose of showing, or did show or tried to show, fraud on the part of the government officers.

The question presented by the exceptions of plaintiffs is whether the valuation of merchandise made by the custom officers under the statutes of the United States, for the purpose of levying duties thereon, is, in the absence of frand on the part of the officers, conclusive on the importer, or whether it is reviewable in an action at law brought by the importer to recover back duties paid under protest. The solution of this question depends upon the provisions of the acts of congress regulating the subject, which are as follows:

Section 2900 declares, in substance, that the owner, etc., of any merchandise, may, when he shall produce the original invoice to the collector, and make and verify his written entry, and not afterwards make such addition to the cost or value given in the invoice as shall raise the same to the actual market value at the time of importation in the principal markets of the country from which the...