United States v. Cerecedo Hermanos Compania
| Decision Date | 06 April 1908 |
| Docket Number | No. 152,152 |
| Citation | 209 U.S. 337,52 L.Ed. 821,28 S.Ct. 532 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES, Appt., v. CERECEDO HERMANOS Y COMPANIA |
| Court | U.S. Supreme Court |
Assistant Attorney General Sanford for appellant.
No appearance for appellees.
The appellee imported into Porto Rico from France 30 cases of red wine, 24 bottles to the case, and each bottle containing more than one pint and less than a quart of wine.
The wine was classified by appraisers at the port of San Juan under paragraph 296 of the present tariff act [30 Stat. at L. 174, chap. 11, U. S. Comp. Stat. 1901, p. 1654] and the reciprocity treaty with France of May 30, 1898, as being dutiable at $1.25 per dozen bottles, making a total of $75. Upon this classification the entry was liquidated and the duty paid.
The appellee in due time protested against the classification and the decision of the collector, stating that 'the wine in question has been assessed at $1.25 per dozen bottles, when it should be by cases of 24/2 bottles.'
The board of appraisers decided against the collector and in favor of the protest, saying:
'The wine in question, being contained in cases of 24 bottles, and each bottle containing over a pint, was clearly subject to duty at $1.60 per case; and any excess beyond this quantity found in such bottles would be subject to a duty only of 5 cents per pint or fractional part thereof.'
The district court affirmed the decision of the board of appraisers.
The only question in the case is the construction of parapraph 296, the material portions of which are as follows:
'In bottles or jugs, per case of one dozen bottles or jugs, containing each not more than one quart and more than one pint, or 24 bottles or jugs containing each not more than one pint, $1.60 per case; and any excess beyond these quantities found in such bottles or jugs shall be subject to a duty of 5 cents per pint or fractional part thereof. . . .'
It is the contention of the government that the paragraph separates still wines in bottles into three classes and fixes a specific rate of duty on each, as follows:
'(a) Bottles 'containing each not more than one pint,' which are to be assessed as full pints at $1.60 per 24 bottles, or at the rate of 6 2/3 cents per pint; (b) bottles 'containing each not more than one quart and more than one pint,' which are to be assessed as full quarts at $1.60 per dozen bottles; that is, at the same rate of 6 2/3 cents per pint; and (c) bottles containing 'any excess beyond these quantities,' which...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Cobb v. Department of Public Works
...to the contrary (City of New York v. New York City Ry. Co., 193 N. Y. 543, 549, 86 N. E. 565; United States v. Cerecedo Hermanos, 209 U. S. 337, 338, 339, 28 S. Ct. 532, 52 L. Ed. 821, 822). But, if the above-mentioned sections are to be deemed to require that a license must be obtained as ......
-
United States v. Mescalero Apache Tribe
...consistently given to a statute by the Executive Department charged with its administration. United States v. Cerecedo Hermanos y Compania, 209 U.S. 337, 28 S.Ct. 532, 52 L.Ed. 821; Robertson v. Downing, 127 U.S. 607, 8 S.Ct. 1328, 32 L.Ed. 269; United States v. Healey, 160 U.S. 136, 16 S.C......
-
Wuchter v. Pizzutti
...v. Civil Service Commission, 101 N. J. Law, 192, 194, 127 A. 808), as it would with this court (United States v. Cerecedo Hermanos Y. Compania, 209 U. S. 337, 28 S. Ct. 532, 52 L. Ed. 821). Moreover, the rule that a construction which raises a serious doubt as to the constitutionality of a ......
-
Return Mail, Inc. v. U.S. Postal Serv.
...as a "person" for purposes of the ex parte reexamination procedures themselves. See, e.g. , United States v. Hermanos y Compañia, 209 U. S. 337, 339, 28 S.Ct. 532, 52 L.Ed. 821 (1908). Here, however, the Patent Office’s statement in the 1981 MPEP has no direct relevance. Even assuming that ......