Page:Immigration and the Commissioners of Emigration of the state of New York.djvu/191

Rh The plaintiff in the case of Norris vs. The City of Boston was an inhabitant of St. John's, in New Brunswick, an English colony. He arrived at the port of Boston, in June, 1837, in command of a schooner belonging to St. John's, having on board nineteen alien passengers. He was compelled to pay to the City of Boston the sum of two dollars for each passenger before he could obtain permission to land them. This amount of thirty-eight dollars was paid under protest that the exaction was illegal. An action was thereupon brought against the City of Boston, in the Court of Common Pleas, to recover back this money; under the instructions of the court, the jury found a verdict for the defendant, on which judgment was entered, and which was affirmed on a writ of error to the Supreme Court of Massachusetts. The case was then taken to the Supreme Court of the United States.

The demand was made, and the money received from the plaintiff in pursuance of the following act of the Legislature of Massachusetts, passed on April 20, 1837, the third section of which reads as follows: "No alien passenger shall be permitted to land until the master, owner, consignee, or agent of such vessel shall pay the regularly appointed boarding officer the sum of two dollars for each passenger on landing, and the money so collected shall be paid into the treasury of the city or town, to be appropriated as the city or town may direct, for the support of foreign paupers."

In the case of George Smith vs. Turner, the plaintiff in error was master of the British ship Henry Bliss, which vessel touched at the port of New York in the month, of June, 1841, and landed two hundred and ninety steerage passengers. The defendant in error brought an action of debt against the plaintiff to recover one dollar for each of the above passengers. A demurrer was filed on the ground that the statute of New York was a regulation of commerce, and in conflict with the Constitution of the United States. The Supreme Court of the State overruled the demurrer, and the Court of Errors affirmed the judgment. This brought before the United States Supreme Court the constitutionality of the New York statute, which, under the general denomination of health laws in New York, provides that the Health Commissioner