Arthur v. Lahey

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

In the years 1872 and 1873, Lahey & Co. imported from France certain articles of silk manufacture, on which Arthur, the collector of the port of New York, imposed and collected a duty of sixty per cent, under the eighth section of the act of June 30, 1864. 13 Stat. 210. Among the articles so imported was a quantity of laces which the importers insisted were commercially known as 'thread laces,' and liable to a duty of only thirty per cent ad valorem, under the nineteenth section of the act of March 2, 1861 (12 id. 190), as amended by the sixth section of the act of July 14, 1862 (id. 550). Having paid, under protest, the duty exacted, the importers brought this action for the excess beyond thirty per cent. The judge at the trial submitted to the jury the question, whether the articles were commercially known as 'thread laces;' and the jury having found that they were, there was a verdict for the plaintiffs. Judgment was rendered thereon, and the collector sued out a writ of error.

Mr. Assistant-Attorney-General Smith, for the plaintiff in error.

Mr. Edwards Pierrepont and Mr. William Stanley, contra.

MR. JUSTICE HUNT delivered the opinion of the court.