Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/539

 632 FEDERAL REPORTER. �port, to recover duties alleged to have been exacted from the plaintiff in excess of the lawful duties on certain importations of Alexandre's kid gloves. �The gloves were invoiced entered at a valuation of 42 francs per dozen, but the local appraiser raised the value for the purpose of assessing duty thereon to 52 francs per dozen, and thus the importera incurred a penalty of 20 per centum ad valorem upon the assessed value, the latter being 10 per centum over the invoice value. �The importera were dissatiafied with the action of the local appraiser, and expressed their dissatisfaction in writing to the collecter, who thereupon, in compliance with the require- ments of section 2930 of the United States Eevised Statutes, appointed a merchant appraiser to act with one of the gen- erai appraisers upon a reappraisement of the gloves. The appraisers were unable to agree, and made separate reports to the collecter, who adopted the report of the general appraiser, and determined the dutiable value of the gloves to be 49 francs per dozen, while the merchant appraiser had reported that the dutiable value was only 42 francs per dozen. The importers, having been required to pay duties at the rate of 60 per centum ad valorem on the value thus ascertained and determined by the coUector, protested against the exaction, and appealed to the secretary of the treasury, and subsequently brought suit. �Upon the trial of the suit the plaintifïs sought to introduce testimony as to the fair foreign market value of the gloves, but the counsel for the defendant objected to such testimony, and maintained that an appraisement regularly made was, in the absence of fraud, conclusive against the importer upon the question of the foreign market value of the gloves. �After hearing f ull arguments on bo|;h sides, Judge Shipman rendered the following decision. �Alexander e Green and Geo. H. E. Tremaine, for plaintiffs. �A. B. Herrick, Ass't United States Att'y, for government. . The Court. On this point, as to the admissibility of this testimony in regard to the fair, actual market value of the articles in the principal markets of France, in the absence ����