Pickhardt v. Merritt

Citations

• 132 U.S. 252
• 10 S. Ct. 80
• 33 L. Ed. 353
• 1889 U.S. LEXIS 1870

Syllabus

<p>Dyes or colors called naphthylamine red, orange II, orange IV, and resorcine red J, imported in 1879, were liable to a duty of fifty cents per pound and thirty-five per cent ad valorem under the provision of schedule M of § 2504 of the Revised Statutes, 2d ed. p. 479, imposing that rate of duty on “ Paints and dyes — aniline dyes and colors, by whatever name known,” although none of them were known in commerce before 1875; if, according to the understanding of commercial men, dealers in and importers of them, they would, when imported, be included in the class of articles known as aniline dyes, by whatever name they had come to be known; or if, under § 2499 of the Revised Statutes, they bore a similitude, either in material, quality, or the use to which they might be applied, to what were known as aniline dyes at the time the Revised Statutes were enacted, in 1874.</p>