This is a writ of error to the court of appeals of the state of Maryland, and the question presented for our consideration is the constitutional validity of certain provisions in the tobacco inspection statutes of Maryland.
The plaintiff in error, Turner, was indicted in the criminal court of Baltimore. The indictments contained two counts. The first count alleged that Turner packed in a hogshead tobacco grown by him on a farm belonging to him in Charles county, in Maryland, and marked the hogshead with his full name and his place of residence in said county, and shipped it to the city of Baltimore; that it was not delivered at any tobacco warehouse in said city, under the management or control of any inspector of tobacco appointed for said warehouse by the governor of the state of Maryland, under the constitution and laws of said state, nor to any one of said inspectors of tobacco, nor to any one acting under the authority of any one of said inspectors of tobacco, to be weighed, passed, or marked, and it was not weighed, passed, and marked by any such inspector of tobacco, nor by any person acting under the authority of any one of said inspectors of tobacco; but that the said Turner exported it from said city to Bremen, in Germany, without having procured it to be weighed, passed, and marked by any such inspector of tobacco, or by any person acting under the authority of any one of said inspectors of tobacco. The second count contained the same allegations, and the further averment that the said Turner did not, prior to said exportation, pay or cause to be paid any sum of money due for outage, or any sum of money due for storage, to the state of Maryland, on said hogshead, to any such inspector of tobacco, or to any other person having authority to receive the same, although certain sums of money were due and payable by him to said state for outage and storage on said hogshead.
Separate demurrers were filed to each count of the indictment, and then a written stipulation was filed by the parties, as follows:
'It is agreed in this case (1) that the matters and facts charged in the indictment in this case are true, as therein stated; (2) that for the more speedy final determination of the questions of law involved in this case the demurrers which the traverser has entered to this indictment shall be overruled pro forma by the court; (3) that after such overruling of the demurrers the case shall be forthwith submitted to the court, without the intervention of a jury, upon the admission contained in the first paragraph of this agreement.'
The demurrers were then overruled. The court then rendered a judgment that Turner pay a fine of $300. On the same day, Turner, by petition to said criminal court, setting forth that he had been adjudged guilty of a misdemeanor, and by the judgment of said court ordered to pay the sum of $300 to said state, prayed an appeal to the court of appeals of Maryland, assigning errors in the record. That court affirmed the judgment, and Turner has brought the case into this court by a writ of error, alleging that the statutes of Maryland on which the indictment was founded, and the validity of which was sustained by the state court, are repugnant to the constitution of the United States.
It is claimed by the defendant in error that the statutory provisions, the validity of which is denied by the plaintiff in error, are 'inspection laws,' within the meaning of clause 2 of section 10 of article 1 of the constitution of the United States, which clause is as follows:
'No state shall, without the consent of the congress, lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net proceeds of all duties and imposts laid by any state on imports or exports, shall be for the use of the treasury of the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the revision and control of the congress.'