Robertson v. Frank Brothers Co.

Citations

• 132 U.S. 17
• 10 S. Ct. 5
• 33 L. Ed. 236
• 1889 U.S. LEXIS 1836

Syllabus

<p>The payment- of iponey to a customs official to avoid an onerous penalty, though the imposition of that penalty may hav< been illegal, is sufficient to make the payment an involuntary one.</p> <p>The compulsory insertion by an importer of additional charges upon the entry and invoice, which necessarily involve the payment of inc eased duties, makes the paymentof those duties involuntary.</p> <p>The general rule that'the valuation of merchandise made by a castoms appraiser is conclusive if no appeal be taken therefrom to mere! ant appraisers, is subject to the qualification that if the appraiser proceed upon a wrong principle, contrary to law, and this be made to appear, his appraisement may be impeached.</p> <p>A statute which requires the dutiable value of imported goods to be reached by adding to the market value of the goods the cost of transportation, and other defined charges, does not authorize an appraiser to reach the amount of such cost and charges by, an estimate or percentage ; and an importer who pays duties on an importation thus calculated may, in an action brought to recover such as were illegally exacted, show wherein such estimate or percentage was illegal and excessive.</p>