Seeberger v. Schweyer

• Citation: 14 S.Ct. 881,38 L.Ed. 839,153 U.S. 609
• Decision Date: 14 May 1894
• Docket Number: No. 295,295
• Parties: SEEBERGER, Collector, v. SCHWEYER
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

153 U.S. 609

14 S.Ct. 881

38 L.Ed. 839

SEEBERGER, Collector,

v SCHWEYER.

No. 295.

May 14, 1894.

Asst. Atty. Gen. Whitney, for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Justice SHIRAS delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an action brought in the circuit court of the United States for the northern district of Illinois by John Schweyer, an importer of goods, against Anthony F. Seeberger, the collector of customs for the port of Chicago, to recover duties paid under protest in 1888, upon goods imported in 1886 and placed in a bonded warehouse.

A jury was waived, and the case was tried by the court, which found the facts as follows:

'That on the 26th day of October, 1886, the plaintiff imported, via the port and district of New York, certain merchandise, and from thence transported the same to the port and district of Chicago, under the immediate transportation act, where it was duly entered for warehouse on the 11th day of December, 1886. That within a year after their arrival in Chicago, but more than a year after their arrival at the port of New York aforesaid, the plaintiff offered to pay the duties and charges assessed against said merchandise, but the customs officer at the port of Chicago assessed an additional duty of 10 per cent. on the amount of duties and charges due thereon, under section 2970, Revised Statutes, for the reason, as he claimed, that the merchandise had not been withdrawn for consumption within one year from the date of the original importation, claiming that the date of original importation was the date when the merchandist arrived at the port of New York aforesaid.'

The court further found that the plaintiff paid the additional duty under protest, and duly appealed, and the last finding of the court was as follows:

'The court further finds that the merchandise was withdrawn for consumption at Chicago, November 2, 1887, which said withdrawal was at the port of original importation, in accordance with the law.'

From the judgment of the court in favor of the plaintiff, the case has been brought here on error. The question presented by the record is the single one whether the period of one year, within which the plaintiff was entitled to withdraw the goods upon paying the duties and charges, runs from the date of the arrival at the port of New York, or from the date of the arrival at the port of Chicago.

Section 2970 of the Revised Statutes reads as follows:

'Any merchandise deposited in bond in any public or private bonded warehouse may be withdrawn for consumption within one year from the date of original importation on payment of the duties and charges to which it may be subject by law at the time of such withdrawal; and after the expiration of one year from the date of original importation, and until the expiration of three years from said date, any merchandise in bond may be withdrawn for consumption on payment of the duties assessed on the original entry and charges, and an additional duty of ten per centum of the amount of such duties and charges.'

In connection with that section must be read the first section of the act of June 10, 1880, c. 190 (21 Stat. 173) as follows:

'That when any merchandise * * * imported at the port of New York * * * shall appear by the invoice or bill of lading and manifest of the importing vessel to be consigned to and destined for either of the ports specified in the seventh section of this act, the collector at the port of arrival shall allow the said merchandise to be shipped immediately after the entry prescribed in section 2 of this act has been made.'

Section 2 provides that the merchandise shall be examined as far as necessary, but shall not be subject to appraisement and liquidation of duties at the port of first arrival, but shall be appraised 'at the port of destination.'

Section 7 provides 'that the privilege of immediate transportation shall extend to the port of * * * Chicago,' etc.

Do, then, the words 'date of original importation,' as used in section 2970, refer to the exterior port of first arrival or to the interior port of destination? It is urged on behalf of the government that congress...