In re Kollock

Kollock was indicted in the supreme court of the District of Columbia for the violation of the sixth section of the act of congress approved August 2, 1886 (24 Stat. 209, c. 840), entitled 'An act defining butter, also imposing a tax upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of oleomargarine'; and also for carrying on in the District the business of a retail dealer in oleomargarine without having paid the special tax thereon. He was arraigned, tried, and convicted on each indictment, and was sentenced to fine and imprisonment on the first, and to fine on the second, with costs on both, and to stand committed further in default of payment.

December 14, 1896, he was committed to the custody of the United States marshal of the District of Columbia, and on the same day filed his petition in this court, alleging that he was deprived of his liberty unlawfully, in that the law under which he was convicted is in violation of the constitution and laws of the United States, for the reason that 'it is not within the power of the congress of the United States, under the constitution of the United States, to delegate to the commissioner of internal revenue or the secretary of the treasury of the United States, or any other person, authority or power to determine what acts shall be criminal, and the said act of congress aforesaid does not sufficiently define, or define at all, what acts done or omitted to be done within the supposed purview of the said act shall constitute an offense or offenses against the United States,' and praying for a writ of habeas corpus.

Leave was given to file the petition, and a rule to show cause was entered thereon, petitioner being admitted to bail, to which the marshal made return that he held petitioner pursuant to the judgment and sentence of the supreme court of the District of Columbia, until he was released from custody on giving bail in compliance with the order of this court.

It appeared that Kollock had appealed to the court of appeals of the District of Columbia, which affirmed the judgments below (25 Wash. Law Rep. 41), in accordance with the decision of that court in Prather v. U.S., 24 Wash. Law Rep. 395.

The act of congress in question consists of 21 sections: Sections 1 and 2 define butter and oleomargarine. Section 3 imposes special taxes on manufacturers, wholesale dealers, and retail dealers in oleomargarine. Section 4 prescribes penalties for carrying on business as manufacturer, wholesale dealer, and retail dealer without payment of taxes; and section 5, the duty of the manufacturer as to notice, etc., keeping books, etc., and conduct of business.

Section 6 is as follows:

'That all oleomargarine shall be packed by the manufacturer thereof in firkins, tubs, or other wooden packages not before used for that purpose, each containing not less than ten pounds, and marked, stamped, and branded as the commissioner of internal revenue, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, shall prescribe; and all sales made by manufacturers of oleomargarine, and wholesale dealers in oleomargarine shall be in original stamped packages. Retail dealers in oleomargarine must sell only from original stamped packages, in quantities not exceeding ten pounds, and shall pack the oleomargarine sold by them in suitable wooden or paper packages, which shall be marked and branded as the commissioner of internal revenue, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, shall prescribe. Every person who knowingly sells or offers for sale, or delivers or offers to deliver, any oleomargarine in any other form than in new wooden or paper packages as above described, or who packs in any package any oleomargarine in any manner contrary to law, or who falsely brands any package or affixes a stamp on any package denoting a less amount of tax than that required by law, shall be fined for each offense not more than one thousand dollars, and be imprisoned not more than two years.'

Section 7 provides that every manufacturer shall affix a label on each package manufactured under penalty; section 8, for a tax on the manufacture to be represented by coupon stamps, the requirements of law as to stamps relating to tobacco and snuff being made applicable; section 9, for the assessment of taxes on oleomargarine sold without using stamps; section 10, for an additional tax on imported oleomargarine; section 11, a penalty for purchasing or receiving for sale any oleomargarine not branded or stamped according to law; section 12, a penalty for purchasing or receiving for sale any oleomargarine from any manufacturer who has not paid the special tax; section 13, for the destruction of stamps on stamped packages when empty; and section 14, for a chemist and microscopist in the office of the commismissioner. etc.; and the commissioner is authorized to decide what substances, etc., submitted to inspection in contested cases shall be taxed under the act.

Section 15 is as follows:

'That all packages of oleomargarine subject to tax under this act, that shall be found without stamps or marks as herein provided, and all oleomargarine intended for human consumption which contains ingredients adjudged, as hereinbefore provided, to be deleterious to the public health, shall be forfeited to the United States.

'Any person who shall wilfully remove or deface the stamps, marks, or brands on packages containing oleomargarine taxed as provided herein shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than two thousand dollars, and by imprisonment for not less than thirty days nor more than six months.'

Section 16 provides for the exportation of oleomargarine; and section 17 imposes a penalty for fraud by the manufacturer in relation to the tax.

Section 18 is as follows:

'That if any manufacturer of oleomargarine, any dealer therein or any importer or exporter thereof shall knowingly or wilfully omit, neglect, or refuse to do, or cause to be dope, any of the things required by law in the carrying on or conducting of his business, or shall do anything by this act prohibited, if there be no specific penalty or punishment imposed by any other section of this act for the neglecting, omitting, or refusing to do, or for the doing or causing to be done, the thing required or prohibited, he shall pay a penalty of one thousand dollars; and if the person so offending be the manufacturer of or a wholesale dealer in oleomargarine, all the oleomargarine owned by him, or in which he has any interest as owner, shall be forfeited to the United States.'

Section 19 provides for the recovery of fines, etc.

Sections 20 and 21 read: 'Sec. 20. That the commissioner of internal revenue, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, may make all needful regulations for the carrying into effect of this act.

'Sec. 21. That this act shall go into effect on the ninetieth day after its passage; and all wooden packages containing ten or more pounds of oleomargarine found on the premises of any dealer on or after the ninetieth day succeeding the date of the passage of this act shall be deemed to be taxable under section eight of this act, and shall be taxed, and shall have affixed thereto the stamps, marks, and brands required by this act or by regulations made pursuant to this act; and for the purposes of securing the affixing of the stamps, marks, and brands required by this act, the oleomargarine shall be regarded as having been manufactured and sold, or removed from the manufactory for consumption or use, on or after the day this act takes effect; and such stock on hand at the time of the taking effect of this act may be stamped, marked, and branded under special regulations of the commissioner of internal revenue, approved by the secretary of the treasury; and the commissioner of internal revenue may authorize the holder of such packages to mark and brand the same and to affix thereto the proper tax-paid stamps.'

The first indictment against Kollock set forth that pursuant to the authority conferred on the commissioner of internal revenue by the sixth section of the act of August 2, 1886, 'the said commissioner, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, did, on the 12th day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-one, prescribe certain regulations, in substance and to the effect, among other things, that the wooden or paper packages in which retail dealers in oleomargarine were required by said act of congress to pack the oleomargarine sold by them, such retail dealers, should have printed or branded upon them in the case of each sale the name and address of the retail dealer making the same, likewise the words 'pound' and 'oleomargarine' in letters not less than one-quarter of an inch square, and likewise a figure or figures of the same size indicating (in connection with said words 'pound' and 'oleomargarine') the quantity of oleomargarine so sold, written, printed, or branded on such wooden or paper packages, and placed before the said word 'pound'; and that the said words 'oleomargarine' and 'pound' so required to be printed or branded on such packages as aforesaid, in the case of each sale as aforesaid, and the said figure or figures so indicative of quantity as aforesaid, in the case of each sale as aforesaid, and so required to be written, printed, or branded on such packages as aforesaid, should be so placed thereon as to be plainly visible to the purchaser at the time of the delivery to him, such purchaser, by such retail dealers of the oleomargarine sold to such purchaser by them, such retail dealers.'

And thus continued:

'That on the 14th day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-six, and at the District aforesaid, one Israel C. Kollock, late of the District aforesaid, being then and there engaged in business as a retail dealer in oleomargarine at a store of him, the said Israel C. Kellock, situated on Fourth street southeast, in the city of Washington, in the said District, did then and there and at said store knowingly sell and deliver to a certain Florence Davis one-half of one pound of oleomargarine as and for butter, which said one-half of one pound of oleomargarine was not then and there and at the time of such sale and delivery thereof packed in a new wooden or paper package, having then and there printed or branded thereon the name and address of him, the said Israel C. Kollock, in letters one-quarter of an inch square, and the words 'pound' and 'oleomargarine' in letters of like size and a figure or figures of like size written, printed, or branded thereon, indicative (in connection with said words 'pound' and 'oleomargarine') of the quantity of oleomargarine so sold and delivered to her, the said Florence Davis, as aforesaid, and which said one-half of one pound of oleomargarine at the time it was so knowingly sold and delivered to her, the said Florence Davis, as aforesaid, by him, the said Israel C. Kollock, as aforesaid, was then and there, and at the time of the sale and delivery thereof as aforesaid, packed in a paper package upon which there had not been printed, branded, or written any or either of the marks and characters aforesaid, so required by the said regulations to be placed thereon as aforesaid, as he, the said Israel C. Kollock, then and there well knew, against the form of the statute,' etc.

Henry E. Davis and J. M. Wilson, for petitioners.

Sol. Gen. Conrad, for respondent.

Mr. Chief Justice FULLER, after stating the facts in the foregoing language, delivered the opinion of the court.