Auffmordt v. Hedden

Citations

• 137 U.S. 310
• 11 S. Ct. 103
• 34 L. Ed. 674
• 1890 U.S. LEXIS 2090

Syllabus

<p>On a reappraisement by a merchant appraiser and a general appraiser, under § 2930 of the Revised .Statutes, the valuation of goods entered in March, 1886, was raised, and the importer paid thereon additional duties, for which he sued the collector, after protest and appeal. At the trial, the plaintiff put in evidence chapter 3, part 8, articles 447 to 506, and chapter 5, part 8, articles 1399 to 1410, and 1415 to 141-7, of the general regulations under the customs and navigation laws published by the .Treasury Department in 1884; and extracts from the instructions issued for-the guidance of officers of the customs and others concerned, by the Secretary of the Treasury, under date of July 1, 1885, being instructions of June 9, 1885, and June 10, 1885. The importer had asked'for the reappraisement, and the collector selected the merchant appraiser. He took the prescribed oath in regard to the goods in question. The defendant had a verdict in respect of the additional duties, under the direction of the court, and the importer had a judgment in respect of another matter: On a writ of error: Held,</p> <p>(1) The instructions of the Treasury Department gave the importer all the rights to which he was entitled, and were not repugnant to that provision of §§ 2902 and 2930 which required the use of “ all reasonable ways and means,” in appraising, and the proper rights of the importer were accorded to him in this case;</p> <p>(2) The question of the dutiable value of the merchandise was not to be tried before the appraisers as if it were an issue in a suit in a judicial tribunal;</p> <p>(3) In a suit to recover back duties paid under protest, the valuation of merchandise made by the appraisers is, in the absence of fraud, conclusive on the importer, and the question as to the actual value of the merchandise cannot be tried;</p> <p>(4) The merchant appraiser was not an officer, within the meaning of article 2, section 2 of the Constitution, so as to.require him to be appoin