Pickhardt v. Merritt
| Decision Date | 02 December 1889 |
| Citation | 10 S.Ct. 80,132 U.S. 252,33 L.Ed. 353 |
| Parties | PICKHARDT et al. v. MERRITT |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
B. F. Thurston and Livingston Gifford, for plaintiffs in error.
Sol. Gen. Chapman, for defendant in error.
This is an action at law, brought in the circuit court of the United States for the southern district of New York by Wilhelm Pickhardt and Adolf Kuttroff against Edwin A. Merritt, collector of the port of New York, to recover duties paid under protest on importations into that port from Hamburg; the entries having been made at the custom-house in January and February, 1879. There were proper protests and appeals to the secretary of the treasury, and decisions by that officer. The goods were dyes or colors called 'Naphthylamine Red,' 'Orange II.,' 'Orange IV.,' and 'Resorcine Red J.' At the trial, before Judge WHEELER and a jury, there was verdict for the defendant, and a judgment in his favor for costs; to review which the plaintiffs have brought a writ of error. The collector assessed a duty upon the articles in question of 50 cents per pound, and 35 per cent. ad valorem, under that provision of Schedule M of section 2504 of the Revised Statutes (2d Ed. 479) which reads as follows: 'Paints and dyes: Aniline dyes and colors, by whatever name known, fifty cents per pound, and thirty-five per centum ad valorem.' The plaintiffs claimed, in their protest, that the articles were not aniline dyes, and were liable to a duty of only 20 per cent. ad valorem, under section 2516 of the Revised Statutes, which provides that 'there shall be levied, collected, and paid on the importation of all raw or unmanufactured articles, not herein enumerated or provided for, a duty of ten per centum ad valorem; and on all articles manufactured, in whole or in part, not herein enumerated or provided for, a duty of twenty per centum ad valorem.' The course of legislation on the subject of duties on aniline dyes has been as follows: By section 11 of the act of June 30, 1864, c. 171, (13 St. 212,) the following duty was imposed: 'On aniline dyes, one dollar per pound, and thirty-five per centum ad valorem.' By section 21 of the Act of July 14, 1870, c. 255, (16 St. 264,) the following duty was imposed: 'On aniline dyes and colors, by whatever name known, fifty cents per pound, and thirty-five per centum ad valorem;' and by section 22 of the same act, p. 266, picric acid, which appears to be not chemically an aniline dye, but a phenol dye, though obtained from coal-tar, was made free of duty. The provision of the act of 1870 in regard to aniline dyes and colors was carried into the Revised Statutes, enacted in 1874, as was also the provision in regard to picric acid.
The question sought to be raised by the plaintiffs in the present case could not arise under the Revised Statutes, as amended by the act of March 3, 1883, c. 121, because under title 33, § 2502, Schedule A, as enacted by the act of March 3, 1883, (22 St. 493,) the following duty is imposed: 'All coal-tar colors or dyes, by whatever name known, and not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, thirty-five per centum ad valorem;' and picric acid was not included by name in the list of articles made free of duty by section 2503, as enacted by the act of March 3, 1883. The articles in question, which, it is claimed, were not aniline dyes or colors, are admitted to be 'coal-tar colors or dyes.' The plaintiffs claimed on the trial, and claim here, that the words 'aniline dyes and colors, by whatever name known,' are words of description, and not words used in a general commercial sense. They therefore introduced a good deal of evidence for the purpose of showing that the articles in question were, physically and chemically, not aniline dyes or colors, though derived from coal-tar. It was shown that none of those articles were known in commerce at the time the Revised Statutes were enacted; resorcine red J having been known first in 1875, orange II. and IV. in 1877, and naphthylamine red in 1878. On the other hand, the defendant introduced testimony for the purpose of showing that the articles in question were known in trade, when imported, as 'aniline dyes,' and that in 1874 the term 'aniline dyes' had been applied in trade to all dyes derived from coal-tar, or artificial dyes. The testimony on the part of the plaintiffs tended to show that the articles in question were not, chemically, aniline colors; that naphthylamine red and orange II. and IV. were azo colors; that resorcine red J was an eosine color; that picric acid was a phenol color; that aniline colors had high tinctorial power, as compared with natural colors, while the tinctorial power of azo colors was no higher than that of natural colors; that aniline colors attached themselves to fabrics without manipulation, easily and directly, while azo colors attached themselves with more difficulty, being assisted by mordants; that aniline colors were wanting in fastness, while azo colors were relatively fast; that aniline colors were generally on the blue shades, either blues, or violets, or reds which contained blue or green, while azo colors had exactly the shades that aniline colors lacked,—yellows, orange, and yellowish reds; that aniline colors were not fast to acids or alkalis, while azo colors were relatively fast to both acids and alkalis, and were sometimes even brightened or cleared by acids and alkalis; that aniline colors combined readily with albumen, which was largely used as a mordant and in photography, while azo colors did not combine with albumen; and that aniline colors were not acid, unless sulphonated, while azo colors were always acid. In regard to resorcine red J, the plaintiffs gave evidence tending to show that an aniline color could be used as a dye, while resorcine red could not be used generally as a dye; that an aniline color could not be used generally or efficiently for paints, while resorcine red was generally used as a pigment for paints, and that the color of an aniline dye was a crimson, running up to violet or bluish red, while the color of resorcine red was scarlet or yellowish red.
The plaintiffs insist that the court erred at the trial in admitting evidence to show what the importations in question were called in trade at the time of the trial in 1884, which was ten years after the Revised Statutes were enacted, and five years after the entries took place; that it also erred in admitting evidence to show the signification of the words 'aniline dyes and colors' as a commercial term, in contradistinction to a descriptive term; and that it erred in refusing to...
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