38 F. 30 | U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Southern New York | 1889
(orally charging jury.) Before coming to the particular question which I shall submit to you, it is only right, in view of the great elaborateness and care with which this ease has been presented by counsel, that I should briefly state the reasons which lead me to the conclusion I have reached.
Now, gentlemen of the jury, the question before you is perhaps a simple one, but the task before me, in leaving it to you, 1 find to be extremely difficult. When we get away from the domain of science and the strictly accurate phraseology which it employs, one of the hardest tasks that can be laid upon us is to give an accurate definition of any particular word. That with which you are here concerned is the word “thread.” It is a word which perhaps each of you uses more than once each day of his life. What are you to understand that word to mean when jou come to deal with the facts of this case? Of course, when we are challenged to find the meaning for a word, however familiar we may be with it ourselves, it is our custom to go to the dictionaries; and so we may, in this instance, turn to them. Now, lexicographers have several functions which they undertake to discharge. They deal not only ■with the eveiy-day meaning,- — the received meaning in common speech of any particular word, — but they hunt down its antecedents; they trace its origin and its growth: they find in some syllable, or combination of its letters, the root from which it has sprung; and in preparing their definitions they take all these elements into consideration. That should be remenibered whenever we turn to a dictionary for a meaning. The most comprehensive meaning which I have found in any of the authorities which have been submitted — and we had best begin with the most comprehensive meaning — the most comprehensive definition of the word “thread” which I have found, is in Worcester: “A small line or twist of any fibrous or filamentous substance, as flax, silk, cotton, or wool, particularly such as is used for weaving or for sewing; a filament; a small string. ” Turning to the same dictionary for a definition of the word “ filament ” we find it defined as “a substance like a thread; a long thread-like process; a slender fiber.” That is the most comprehensive and far-reach
There is another branch of the case, however, which is entitled to consideration at your hands.' Words are assumed to be used by con-, gress in the tariff laws in their ordinary meaning, unless some other meaning is attached to them. Usually that proposition is discussed as a question whether or not a particular trade meaning — a meaning different from its ordinary, every-day meaning — has been given to a word; and thus we often receive the testimony of tradesmen as to the meaning of words in the acts of congress. But there is no question here of any such particular trade use of the term. • Under the' decisions of the supreme court, in the Square Yard Oases,
The two questions, and the only questions, for you to decide are: (1) Have there been introduced into these goods threads of material
Those two are the only questions which you will have to consider. Should you decide both those questions in the affirmative, — that is, that threads of materials other than wool have been introduced here, and that they were introduced with the intent of changing the classification, —then your verdict should be for the defendant. Should you answer either question in the negative, — that is, should you find that there were not threads of other materials than wool in these goods; or, even if answering that in the affirmative, you should find that they were not introduced with the intent to undertake to change the classification, — then your verdict will be for the plaintiff. You need not concern yourselves with the amount in dollars, because that can be written into your verdict when it is rendered. - ;•
The defendant has requested me to charge that the collector is presumed to have assessed the duty according to law; and that the burden of proof is on the plaintiff, to show by preponderance of evidence that the collector was wrong. I so charge.
The plaintiff requests me to charge that “it is established that the filling of those goods was composed wholly of wool,” and that “it is established that no separate thread of the warp of these goods was composed-wholly of wool.” I so charge. You- will understand that the warp of the goods are the threads or yarns which run parallel to each other, and lengthwise through the goods. No single one of those threads was itself composed wholly of wool. I also charge you that the warp of these goods was composed of both cotton and wool in union. And also charge
The defendant requested the court to charge: (1) That if the jury find that the selvedge of these goods was made wholly or in part of cotton, introduced for the purpose of changing the classification, there should be a verdict for the defendant; (2) that if the jury find that the plaintiffs’ goods were made with threads composed of wool and cotton, introduced for the purpose of changing the classification, verdict should be for the defendant; (3) that if the jury find that these goods are women’s dress goods, substantially composed of wool, and known in trade and commerce as “all-wool fabrics,” the defendant is entitled to a verdict; (4) that if the jury find that the quantity of cotton introduced in these goods is so insignificant as not to alter the character of the goods and remove them from the category of “ all-wool dress goods,” as known in trade and commerce, the defendant is entitled to a verdict, — each of which requests were denied by the court.
Yerdict for plaintiffs.
Schmieder v. Barney, 5 Sup. Ct. Rep. 624, and cases there cited.