ERROR to the Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York.
Richards sued Arthur, collector of the port of New York, at law in the court below, to recover an alleged excess of duties on imported goods exacted by the defendant and paid by the plaintiff under protest. Judgment was given in favor of the plaintiff, and to reverse this judgment this writ of error was brought.
The case was thus:
On the 16th day of March, 1874, the plaintiff, Richards, entered at the custom-house an invoice of all-wool dress-goods imported from France, the value of which was invoiced in francs of the currency of France. By an act of Congress passed May 22d, 1846, it was enacted that 'in all computations at the custom-house, the franc of France . . . shall be estimated at eighteen cents six mills.' At this rate of estimation of the French franc in money of account of the United States, the dutiable value of these goods was less than twenty cents per square yard, and under the then existing tariff, subject to an ad valorem duty of thirty-five per cent., and an additional duty of six cents per square yard. The plaintiff contended that this act of May 22d, 1846, fixed the value of the franc, and accordingly that he was chargeable only at the rate of eighteen cents six mills for each franc.
On the other hand the defendant relied on the act passed March 3d, 1873, entitled 'An act to establish the custom-house value of the sovereign or pound sterling of Great Britain, and to fix the par of exchange;' by which it was enacted as follows:
'SECTION 1. That the value of foreign coin, as expressed in the money of account of the United States, shall be that of the pure metal of such coin of standard value, and the values of the standard coins in circulation of the various nation of the world shall be estimated annually by the Director of the Mint, and proclaimed on the 1st day of January by the Secretary of the Treasury.
'SECTION 2. That in all payments by or to the treasury, whether made here or in foreign countries, when it becomes necessary to compute the value of the sovereign or pound sterling, it shall be deemed equal to $4.86 and 6 1/2 mills, and the same rule shall be applied in appraising merchandise imported, when the value is by the invoice in sovereigns or pounds sterling, and in the construction of contracts payable in sovereigns or pounds sterling; and this valuation shall be the par of exchange between Great Britain and the United States; and all contracts made after the 1st day of January, 1874, based on an assumed par of exchange with Great Britain, of fifty-four pence to the dollar, or $4.44 4/9 to the sovereign or pound sterling, shall be null and void.
'SECTION 3. That all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with these provisions be, and the same are hereby, repealed.'
Under this act the superintendent of the mint prepared two tables, one showing the standard value of foreign coins and moneys of account, according to the amount of pure metal contained therein, as provided in the first clause of the first section; and the other, showing the weight, fineness, and value of certain foreign coins in actual circulation, as assayed at the mint, exhibiting a slight diminution of the values contained in the first table. The Secretary of the Treasury, by a circular letter addressed to the collectors of the customs, declared that the values contained in the first of these tables would be used in the computation of customs duties from and after the 1st of January, 1874. This made the value of the franc nineteen cents and three mills, which carried the dutiable value of the plaintiffs' goods above twenty cents per square yard, and subjected them, in consequence, to an ad valorem duty of forty per cent., and an additional duty of eight cents per square yard. The collector required the plaintiff to pay duties in accordance with the latter valuation. This he did under protest, and now brought, as already said, this suit to get back the value.
The question thus was whether the effect of the first and third sections of the above-quoted act of 1873 was to repeal the act of 1846, and to substitute in all computations at the custom-house for the valuation of foreign coins, which had been previously prescribed by statute, the valuation according to standard value, annually estimated by the Director of the Mint and proclaimed by the Secretary of the Treasury.