Arthur v. Herman

ERROR to the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

In the year 1872, Herman & Co., the plaintiffs, imported from England certain cheap goods, the warp of which was made of cotton, and the filling or woof of cattle hair. These were the only component parts of the goods.

The collector imposed a duty of thirty-five per cent on the goods, under the act of June 30, 1864. The importers protested against this charge as excessive, insisting that, under the second section of the act of June 6, 1872 (17 Stat. 231), but ninety per cent of thirty-five per cent could be legally exacted as the duty. Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiffs, and the defendant brought the case here.

The Solicitor-General for the plaintiff in error

Mr. Stephen G. Clarke, contra.

MR. JUSTICE HUNT delivered the opinion of the court.