Miranda v. People of Puerto Rico

• Decision Date: 28 December 1938
• Docket Number: No. 3324.,3324.
• Citation: 101 F.2d 26
• Parties: MIRANDA v. PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

101 F.2d 26 (1938)

MIRANDA v. PEOPLE OF PUERTO RICO.

No. 3324.

Circuit Court of Appeals, First Circuit.

December 28, 1938.

Rafael Soltero Peralta, of San Juan, P. R. (Juan Lastra, of San Juan, P. R., on the brief), for appellant.

William C. Rigby, of Washington, D. C. (B. Fernandez Garcia, Atty. Gen., and Nathan R. Margold, of Washington, D. C., on the brief), for the People of Puerto Rico.

Before BINGHAM and WILSON, Circuit Judges, and BREWSTER, District Judge.

WILSON, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal, by the defendant, from a judgment of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico affirming judgments of the District Court of San Juan.

The defendant in the month of March, 1934, was convicted in the Municipal Court in the second section of the Municipal Judicial District of San Juan of a violation of section 3 of Act No. 77 of May 5, 1931. The charge in the complaint being as follows:

"That in the month of March, 1934, and in San Juan, Puerto Rico, of the Municipal Judicial District of San Juan, Puerto Rico, which forms part of the Judicial District of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the said defendant, unlawfully, maliciously, and willfully and with the intention of defrauding the Treasury of Puerto Rico, imported through the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico, 3,380 pounds of foreign coffee without paying the import duty of 15 cents per pound established by Section 1 of Act No. 77 of May 5, 1931."

On appeal to the District Court for the Judicial District of San Juan, the defendant, on a trial de novo, on December 12, 1934, was found guilty of a violation of the statute above referred to, as amended by Act No. 7 of April 9, 1934, and was sentenced to pay a fine of $100, and three months in jail. The defendant thereupon appealed to the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico, which court affirmed the judgment and sentence of the District Court, and on April 19, 1937, an appeal was taken by the defendant to the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Section 3 of Act No. 77 of May 5, 1931, as amended by Sec. 4 of Act No. 7 of April 9, 1934, is as follows:

"Every natural or artificial person who imports coffee into Porto Rico after this Act takes effect, and who fails to pay the duties prescribed in section 1 hereof, shall be guilty of misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $100 nor more than $1000 and three months in jail; * * *" for the first offense.

The defendant contends (1) that the words, "imports coffee", in section 3 of this statute means coffee imported from foreign countries, and (2) that the Joint Resolution No. 59, approved by the Governor of Puerto Rico May 5, 1930, p. 742, imposing a duty on foreign coffee, was not in force in March, 1934, when it was alleged the defendant's offense was committed, since it did not take effect until ratified by the Congress of the United States, and it was not ratified by Congress until June 18, 1934, 48 Stat. 1017, 19 U.S.C.A. § 1319a.

The statutes applying to the situation are as follows: Sec. 319 of the Tariff Act of 1930, 19 U.S.C.A. § 1319, provides that:

"The Legislature of Puerto Rico is hereby empowered to impose tariff duties upon coffee imported into Puerto Rico, including coffee grown in a foreign country coming into Puerto Rico from the United States."

Act No. 77 of May 5, 1931, quoted above, was evidently passed by the Puerto Rico Legislature in view of this authority. It was not brought to the attention of this court that any question has ever been raised as to the validity of this Act or that its validity depended upon its ratification by the Congress of the United States.

A point is made by counsel for the defendant that the Joint Resolution No. 59 and Act No. 77 merely imposed a duty on foreign coffee and punished one who imported foreign coffee into Puerto Rico, and that the word "import", as used therein related only to merchandise brought in from a foreign country and did not impose a duty on coffee grown in a foreign country which came into Puerto Rico from the United States.

The Federal Customs officials at Puerto Rico and the insular officials found that the intent of the legislators in the use of the words, "import" and "coffee", as used in these Acts and Joint Resolutions, should be more clearly defined; and the Puerto Rican legislature, in Act No. 7 of April 9, 1934, amending Act No. 77 of May 5, 1931, defined therein the word, "coffee", and declared that, "when used in this Act, includes coffee that is raw, roasted, ground or mixed with other kinds of coffee imported from any foreign country or from the United States or from its possessions".

The Joint Resolution of Congress of August 20, 1935, 19 U.S.C.A. § 1319a, evidently was also intended as an interpretive Act, as well as an Act of ratification. It made clear that all of the articles on which import duties were intended by Congress to be imposed in the prior Joint Resolution of May 5, 1930, as ratified by Congress on June 18, 1934, and the Act of the Puerto Rican Legislature of May 5, 1931, as amended by Act No. 7 of April 9, 1934, included "coffee brought into Puerto Rico from any state, territory, district or possession of the United States;" and, as thus construed, Congress again approved and ratified the Joint Resolution of May 5, 1930, and Act No. 77 of May 5, 1931, as amended by Act No. 7 of April 9, 1934, (49 Stat. 664, 665, 19 U.S.C.A. § 1319a) which Joint Resolution provides as follows:

"Whereas in enacting the Act approved June 18, 1934, ratifying the taxes and duties imposed by Joint Resolution Numbered 59 enacted by the Legislature of Puerto Rico, and approved by the Governor of Puerto Rico May 5, 1930, the Congress understood and intended in ratifying such Joint Resolution Numbered 59 of the Legislature of Puerto Rico that the `import duty' thereby and by subsequent acts of the Legislature of Puerto Rico `levied on all coffee imported into Puerto Rico' included and was intended to be levied upon all coffee brought into Puerto Rico whether from a foreign country or from any State, Territory, district, or possession of the United States, or other place subject to its jurisdiction: Therefore be it Resolved * * * That the Act of Congress entitled `An Act providing for the ratification of Joint Resolution Numbered 59 of the Legislature of Puerto Rico, approved by the Governor May 5, 1930, imposing an import duty on coffee imported into Puerto Rico', approved June 18, 1934, be, and it is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:

"`That the taxes and duties imposed by the Legislature of Puerto Rico by Joint Resolution Numbered 59 approved by the Governor of Puerto Rico May 5, 1930, and by Act Numbered 77 approved by the Governor of Puerto Rico May 5, 1931, as amended by Act Numbered 7 approved by the Governor April 9, 1934, including therein such taxes and duties on coffee heretofore or hereafter brought into Puerto Rico from any State or Territory or district or possession of the United States, or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, are legalized and ratified, and the collection of all such taxes and duties made under or by authority of either of said acts of the Puerto Rican Legislature, including such taxes and duties on coffee heretofore or hereafter brought into Puerto Rico from any State, Territory, district, or possession of the United States, or other place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, is legalized, ratified, and confirmed as fully to all intents and purposes as if the same had, by prior Act of Congress, been specifically authorized and directed.'"

Inasmuch as coffee during the period covered by these several Acts and Joint Resolutions came into the United States free of duty, a...