ARTHUR
v.
HERMAN

U.S. | 1877-10-01
96 U.S. 141 Supreme Court of the United States (1877) Positive Treatment
Also reported at: 24 L. Ed. 812 · 1877 U.S. LEXIS 1642 · SCDB 1877-212
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

Importers of goods manufactured from cotton and animal hair challenged the tariff duty assessed on their merchandise, claiming they were entitled to a reduced duty rate under an 1872 tariff act provision applicable to cotton manufactures. The Supreme Court held that the reduced duty rate applied only to manufactures where cotton was the component part of chief value, and since cotton was not the chief component in the disputed goods, they did not qualify for the reduced rate and remained subject to the higher general duty rate.


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Opinion of the Court
Mr. Justice Hunt

Mr. Justice Hunt delivered the opinion of the court.'

The last paragraph of sect. 6 of the act of 1864 is as follows, viz.: “ On cotton braids, insertings, lace trimming, or bobbinet, and all other manufactures of cotton not otherwise provided for, thirty-five per cent ad valorem.”

The goods in question were manufactured from two materials, of which cotton .was one, and may, therefore,- in general terms, be said to be manufactured of cotton, and they are not-provided for by any specific enumeration in the act of 1864. They fall under the general clause of this act, just quoted.

Impliedly admitting the application of' this provision to their goods, the importers, by their protest, insist “that the merchandise aforesaid is only liable under existing laws to a .duty of ninety per cent of thirty-five per. cent ad valorem, under the second section of the act of June 6, 1872,-as being merchandise composed of animal hair and cotton.”

On turning to the act of 1872, we find that the ninety per cent provision is made applicable to''“all manufactures of cotton, of which cotton is the component part, of chief value.” The article. in question is dutiable as a manufacture of cotton, that material being one of its components. But the record expressly states that cotton is not the component part of' chief value. It is plain that this case does not fall within the terms of the. clause.

The argument of the importers, if we appreciate it, is this: The similitude clause of the act of Aug. 30, 1842 (5 Stat. 565, sect. 20), provides that there shall be collected on every non-enumerated article, . . . manufactured from two or more materials, the highest duty assessable upon any of its1 component parts.' The article in question is manufactured from cow hair and cotton; of these the cotton is assessed at a higher rate of duty than the hair, and, therefore, the article is assessed as a manufacture of cotton, and hence it is insisted, under the act of 1872, as a manufacture of cotton it is entitled to the deduction' claimed.

The defect in this argument is apparent. The article in question does not fall within the terms of either part of the clause of the act of 1872, “all manufactures of cotton, of which cotton is the component part of chief value.” The first part gives the deduction to manufactures, of cotton, which might be understood to-mean those which are wholly of cotton. If it also includes a manufacture of which cotton is one of the components only,' the cotton must be the component-of chief value. It certainly was not intended to embrace a composite article of which cotton was the chief component, and a composite article of' which it was not the1 chief component. In any aspect, it does not embrace tbe goods in question.

We think the judge erred in ruling in favor of the importer,. and that there must be a new trial.

Judgment reversed and new trial ordered.


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Citator

Cited By

  • Arthur v. FOX and Another, 108 U.S. 125 (U.S. 1883)
    …tatute in question sustain 'the position of the importer. In Stuart v. Maxwell it was not shown that the goods imported bore a similitude to any other article, and so resort was had to their component materials. The same is true of Arthur v. Herman, 96 U. S. 141, where the importation was of “ certain cheap goqds, the warp of which was made of cotton' and the .filling or woof of cattle hair,” and the only question was whether they were to be charged at thirty-five per cent, ad valorem under the act of June…

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