1 Cliff. 545 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts | 1860
Considering the nature of the question, it is evident that it cannot be satisfactorily solved without a careful review of the acts of congress concerning the warehousing of imported goods, and of the principal regulations and circulars of the treasury department upon the subject
Warehousing, as a system, was established in the United States by the act of 6th of August, 1846. 9 Stat. 53. Among other things, the first section provides, that upon the failure or neglect to pay the duties within the period allowed by law, or whenever a warehouse entry shall be made in the prescribed form, the importation “shall be taken possession of by the collector,” and be deposited in “the public stores or in other stores,” to be agreed on by the collector and the importer, owner, or consignee; and by the same section, such stores are required to be secured in the manner provided for by the first section of the act of the 20th of April, 1818, entitled “An act providing for the deposit of wines and distilled spirits in public warehouse.” Such goods are not only required to go into the possession of the collector, and be thus deposited under his control, but they are also required to be kept in the place of deposit at the charge and risk of the owner, importer, or consignee. Goods so deposited are at all times ^subject to the order of the owner, importer, or consignee, upon payment of the proper duties and expenses; but those are required to be secured by a bond to the satisfaction of the collector, in double the amount of the duties. Duties upon ■ such goods are required to be paid within a prescribed period; and in case the goods remained in public store beyond that time, without payment of the duties and charges thereon, they were to be appraised and sold by the collector at public auction, and the proceeds, after deducting the usual rate of storage at the port, with all other charges and expenses, including duties, were to be paid to the owner, importer, or consignee. Whether the merchandise is deposited in the public stores, or in the other stores therein described, there is not one of the provisions here referred to which does not assume that the goods are in the possession and under the control of the collector; and whether deposited in a public or private warehouse, it is clear that the goods cannot be withdrawn for consumption without the payment of the duties; nor for transportation or exportation, except by paying the appropriate expenses. Most of the provisions of the act are general in their phraseology, and doubtless were made so, because the system was new-
Some few details, however, were prescribed in the act itself, which must not be overlooked in this investigation. Importations in warehouse were assumed to be in the possession and under the control of the collector, and were to be kept at the charge and risk of the owner, importer, or consignee, and when withdrawn from warehouse, the appropriate expenses were to be paid by such owner, importer, or consignee. “Appropriate expenses” are the words of the act, but the expenses are in no way defined, except by necessary implication, arising from the obligation imposed of keeping the merchandise. Custody and control of' merchandise in warehouse necessarily involve the expense of storage, superintendence, cartage, and,drayage. All of these elements of charge are obviously included in the term “appropriate expenses,” but the amount is not prescribed, and was necessarily left to be ascertained under the regulations of the department.
Moneys derived from that source are recognized by the act of the 3d of March, 1841, as public moneys, and collectors are required to pay the same into the treasury of the United States. 9 Stat. 349; U. S. v. Walker, 22 How. [63 U. S.] 313. Bonded warehouses, under the regulations of the 17th of February, 1849, were divided into three classes: 1. Public stores, or stores owned by the United States, or leased by them prior to the date of the regulations; 2. Stores in the possession and sole occupancy of the importer, and placed under a customs lock and that of the occupant, for the purpose of storing importations of the importer; 3. Similar stores in the occupation of persons desirous of engaging in the business of storing dutiable merchandise. Such classification was not, in terms, required by the act under consideration; but, in view of the explanations already given, it may be assumed that it was fully authorized by the fifth section.
Looking at the details of those regulations, and comparing them with the provisions of the act of the 28th of March, 1834, it will be seen that many of the latter were substantially borrowed from those regulations. Changes, undoubtedly, were made, and some entirely new provisions were enacted; but, in many respects, there is a marked similarity between the old regulations and the new law upon the same subject. All merchandise subject to duty might be warehoused under the act of 6th of August, 1846; but the regulations contained a provision that perishable articles and gunpowder, firecrackers, and other explosive substances, should be sold forthwith, or at the earliest day practicable, which rendered the privilege valueless in respect to all such articles; and the first section of the new law accordingly excluded those articles altogether from the benefit of the system. Other imported goods subject to duty, and which have been duly entered and bonded for warehousing, may be deposited, at the option of the owner, importer, or consignee, at his expense and risk, in any public warehouse owned or leased by the United States, or in the private warehouse of the importer, the same being used exclusively for the storage of warehoused goods of his own importation or to his consignment, or in a private warehouse used by the owner, occupant or lessee, as a general warehouse for the storage of warehoused goods, subject to the express conditions stated in the act, and such as are necessarily to be implied from other provisions. Such selected place of storage must be designated on the warehouse entry at the time of entering the merchandise at the custom-house.
But there are other and more material conditions expressly or impliedly annexed to the option given to the owner, importer, consignee, or agent, which it becomes important to notice. Warehouses for the deposit of imported goods are divided into two classes, public and private; but of the latter class there are two kinds, as already described. Importers, under, that act, can have no option to deposit any importation in a public store unless such a store be owned or under lease by the United States, because one of the main purposes of the act was to discontinue the use of all such stores for warehousing, and to provide for the establishment of private bonded warehouses. Existing leases were to be cancelled at the shortest period of their termination, and new leases were forbidden at ports where there existed private bonded warehouses. Bight of option, therefore, so far as public stores are concerned, must be considered as limited to cases where such stores were owned or under lease by the government. Conditions more express, however, in respect to the right of option to deposit imported goods, in private warehouses, are to be found in the proviso annexed to the provision conferring the right. Stores must be first constituted private warehouses for the storage of ware
Private warehouses, according to the first proviso of the section, must be used solely for the purpose of storing warehoused goods, and must have been previously approved as such by the secretary of the treasury, and Jiave been placed in charge of a proper officer of the customs, who, together with the owner and proprietor, shall have the joint custody of all the merchandise stored in the warehouse; and all the labor on the goods so stored must be performed by the owner or proprietor under the supervision of the officer of the customs in charge of the same, at the expense of the owner or proprietor. Cellars and vaults of stores for the storage •of wines and distilled spirits only, and yards for the storage of coal, mahogany, and other woods and lumber, may, at tie discretion of the secretary of the treasury, be constituted bonded warehouses for the storage of such articles under the same regulations and conditions as are required in the storage of other merchandise; but the cellars or vaults must be exclusively appropriated to the storage of wines and distilled spirits, and have no opening or entrance, except from the street, and be under the separate locks- of the custom-house and of the owner •or proprietor.
Subject to these conditions and qualifications, the right of option undoubtedly is ■conferred by the act, but it is a mistake to suppose that it exists in the unrestricted and unqualified sense set up in the argument. Government had no public stores, except such as were already filled with imported merchandise; and in order to secure the right to deposit their importations in private warehouse; but the third sec-it necessary to comply with the conditions annexed to its enjoyment. Other differences exist between the act of the- 6th of August, 1S46, and that of the 2Sth of March, 1854, and one or two more of them may be profitably mentioned in connection with the question involved in this ease.
Private warehouses might be agreed on between the collector and importer, under the former, subject only to the condition that the same should be kept under the joint locks of the custom-house and the importer, not in terms forbidding the use of the building for other purposes; but the latter expressly requires that private warehouses shall be used solely for the purpose ■of storing warehoused goods, and the application must not only have been previously approved by the department, but the store must be under the charge of a proper officer of the customs. Provision is wanting in the act of the 6th of August, 1840, to save the government harmless from risk, loss, or expense in keeping the importation in private warehouse; but the third section of the latter act provides, that before any store or cellar, owned or occupied by private individuals, shall be used as a warehouse for other merchandise, the owner, occupant, or lessee shall enter into bond exonerating and holding harmless the government and its officers from any such risk, loss, or expense.
Authority to establish, from time to time, such rules and regulations, not inconsistent with the laws of the United States, as he might deem to be expedient and necessary, was also conferred upon the secretary of the treasury by the ninth section of this act. Pursuant to that authority, additional regulations and forms were framed on the 2d of July, 1855, and promulgated on the same day, to give effect to the provisions of the several acts of congress establishing and extending the warehouse system. Some alteration is made in the classification of warehouses, under these regulations, which must be briefly noticed. Class one is stores owned by the United States, or hired by them prior to the date of the instructions, the leases of which have not yet expired or been can-celled. Classes two and three are the same as in the previous regulations, and need not be further noticed. Class four consists of yards and sheds of suitable construction, which, by the regulations, dre allowed to be bonded in the manner prescribed for other depositories, and used for the storage of wood, coal, dye-woods, molasses, sugar in hogsheads and tierces, railroad, pig, and bar iron, chain cables, and other articles specially authorized. Bonded yards must be enclosed by substantial fences, with gates provided with suitable bars and other fastenings, so as to admit of being secured by customs locks, and must be used exclusively for the storage of the above-named goods. Sheds, also, must be provided with suitable fastenings, and be secured by the different and separate locks of the occupant and of the customs. Cellars and vaults of stores occupied for general business purposes may, under certain prescribed conditions, be used by the owner or lessee as bonded warehouses of class two, for the storage of wines and distilled spirits only and exclusively of his own importation. Neither stores, yards, sheds, cellars, nor vaults are private bonded warehouses, within the meaning of the act of congress, until they are constituted such by the sanction of the proper authorities.
Merchants or other persons desirous of having any building constituted a private bonded warehouse of the second or third class must apply to the collector of the port in writing, describing the premises, the location and capacity of the same, and setting forth the purpose for which the building is proposed to be used; as, whether for the storage of merchandise imported or consigned to himself exclusively, or for the general storage of merchandise in bond. Examination of the premises is then directed,
Merchandise in warehouse was covered by a bond, under the act of the Gth of .August, 1840; but the place of deposit was only secured by the joint locks of the customs and of the owner or occupant, under the superintendence of the officer in charge. Places of deposit now, as well as the goods deposited, must also be covered by a bond, so that all such depositories, before the goods are placed within them, are in point of fact private bonded warehouses, as described in the act of congress. Foreign merchandise received into public stores is declared, by the act of the 3d of March, 1841, to be subject, as to the rates of storage, to regulations by the secretary of the treasury; but the charge on that account cannot exceed the usual rate at the port. 5 Stat. 432; Treas. Cir. & Dec. (Ogden) p. 132, § 35; Reg. July 2, 1855, p. 3; Foster v. Peaslee [Case No. 4,979], Rate of storage allowed to be charged under the regulations of the 17th of February, 1849, for the privilege of warehouse in stores of classes two and three, and for the time of the inspector in superintendence, was a sum equivalent to the pay of such officer, or one half of the amount which would accrue as storage on the goods, if stored at regular rates in a public store. Other regulations and instructions upon the same general subject have been issued since those were promulgated.
Special reference is made by the plaintiffs to the regulations of the 2d of July, 1855, and they insist that the last-named regulations had the effect to repeal those that previously existed, so far, at least, as respects the rate of storage allowed to be charged in cases of this description. Direct repeal is not pretended; and the rule is, where there is no repealing clause, that the subsequent regulations only have the effect to repeal those previously existing, to the extent that those last issued are clearly repugnant to the former. Dwarris, Stat. 533; U. S. v. Walker, 22 How. [63 U. S.) 311. Half-storage, it is admitted, was a proper charge, under the regulations of the 17th of February, 1849; and the admission is a very proper one, be cause the regulations expressly require the importer, before he can use his own store for such deposit, not only to request such use, but also to Indorse on the entry an agreement to pay the collector an amount equal to. the salary of the inspector, or one half storage, and the importer was required to make his election in advance. Under the regulations of the 2d of July, 1855, the provision for store class two is, that for the time of the customs officer necessarily required in attendance at such store, the proprietor shall pay monthly to the collector of the port a sum equivalent to the pay of such officer, but the alternative provision for the payment of half-storage is dropped. Unexplained and separated from the other regulations in pari materia, the provision would seem to imply that the collector must in all cases exact a sum equal to the full salary of the officer in charge, which, in most conceivable cases, would be much greater thau half-storage. That provision is made more striu-gent in the regulations of the 1st of February, 1857, which provide that the proprietor shall pay monthly to the collector of the port such sum as he (the collector) may deem proper for the service, not less, however, than the pay of such officer. Gen. Reg. p. 211. Appropriate expenses were authorized to be charged, and required to be paid, under the act of the 6th of August, 1846; but the charge is described in the regulations of the 17th of February, 1849, as one “for the privilege” and for the “time of the customs officer necessarily employed in attendance at such store.” Goods duly entered for warehousing under bond may, according to the act of the 28th of March, 1854, continue in-warehouse without the payment of duties, for a period of three years, and may be withdrawn for consumption on due entry and payment of the duties and charges, or upon entry for exportation within the same period, without the payment of duties; and the provision is, that in the latter case the goods shall be subject only to the payment of such storage and charges as may be due thereon.
Storage and charges, therefore, are the words of the last-named act, but the language of the regulations is, “for the time of the customs officer necessarily required in attendance at such store.” Those regulations, however, expressly recognize half-storage as-a proper charge in cases where liberty is granted to the importer after entry to take the whole or any part of the goods from the vessel by paying the duties on a withdrawal entry for consumption. Payment of one halt storage for one month is expressly required under those circumstances, and the same regulations provide that charges for storage, labor, and other expenses, accruing on the goods, shall not exceed the regular rates for
Collectors are authorized to accede to these arrangements when the circumstances render the arrangements reasonably practicable, and the public interest will not be prejudiced by it; but it is necessarily in their discretion to determine those preliminary inquiries.
Comparing the acts of congress touching the matter in question, and the several regulations upon tlie same subject, one with another, it is quite obvious that the several provisions were all intended to accomplish the' same general purpose. Warehoused merchandise is required to be kept by the government, and the keeping involves appropriate expenses, and the object of those provisions was to supply the means to defray those expenses and save the government harmless. Differences of phraseology undoubtedly are noticeable; but those differences have respect to matters of detail, and not of principle or substance. Importers, under the first regulations had, in express terms, an election whether to pay a sum equivalent to the salary of the officer in charge, or one half storage at regular rates, in the public stores; and, taken as a whole, I am of the opinion that the subsequent regulations do- not repeal that provision. Expressions are certainly to be found in the subsequent regulations which, if taken separately, would strongly support the view that collectors are required in all cases to exact an amount equivalent to the salary of the officer in charge; but it is not possible to support the regulations at all, if that be their proper construction, for two reasons. Regarding the charge as storage and as an arbitrary exaction, then it would be contrary to law, because in most cases it would exceed the regular rates at the port; but if regarded as payment of the salary of the officer in charge, then the officer receiving it would incur a penalty of two hundred dollars. 1 Stat. G80. Difficulties so formidable cannot be overcome, and consequently the construction assumed by the plaintiffs must be rejected. Where the interpretation of the revenue laws and regulations are involved, considerable weight should be given to the practice of the government as a contemporaneous construction of the provision under consideration When the subsequent regulations were issued, the practice was not changed, but continued the same; and, as a general remark, it may be said that it has never been changed to the present time. Full confirmation of the last remark, if any be needed, is found in the abstract of decisions forwarded to the collectors of the customs on the 30th of June, 1857, by the secretary of the treasury. On that day certain additional instructions were issued to the collectors, and the secretary took occasion to subjoin an abstract of decisions on questions under existing revenue laws. Among the abstract of decisions is one in respect to “storage in private stores”; and the instructions say, “It has been decided that, in cases where goods are stored under bond in a private store, the importer shall either make monthly payment of a sum equivalent to the pay of an inspector placed in charge of the same, or one half of the amount which would accrue as storage on the goods so stored if placed in public store, the importer to make his selection at the time of placing the goods in store.” All of the collectors, it is believed, have conformed to that decision since it was made, and, in view of all the provisions upon the subject, it is difficult to see what other rule can consistently be adopted, except when the arrangement is made for one officer to have charge of more than one warehouse, as before explained. Warehouse Manual (Brace) p. 205.
Several grounds are assumed by the plaintiffs to show their right to recover, but it is clear, from the explanations already given, that none of them can be sustained. 1. They insist that, under the act of the 28th of March, 1854, they had a right to elect to deposit the importations in question in- their own-store, and that they were virtually deprived of that right by being compelled to accept the condition to pay half-storage to secure the enjoyment of the right. Sufficient answer to this complaint has already been made in the previous explanations. Government had no public stores which were not full, and the plaintiffs had. to comply with the regulations in order that their own stores might be constituted “private bonded warehouses.” Election was made by them, and they have enjoyed the right, and, in the language of the law, must pay the appi’opriate expenses. 2. In the second place, they deny