5 Ct. Cust. 270 | C.C.P.A. | 1914
delivered the opinion of the court:
In this case the collectors of customs at the ports of Buffalo and Ogdensburg, N. Y., classified certain scrap leather as waste not specially provided for and assessed it for duty at 10 per cent ad valorem under paragraph 479 of the tariff act of 1909. The importers claimed that the goods, were free of duty under paragraph 581 as manures or substances used only for manure. The protest came on for hearing before Board 3 on June 18, 1913, at which time, the Government and the importers being represented by counsel, a trial of the issues presented by the protest was had and the matter submitted for decision. After the trial and submission of the case, for some reason not set out in the record, the whole proceeding was transferred to Board 1, which, apparently without a trial and without giving either of the parties any opportunity to be heard, rendered a ■ decision sustaining the protests. From the decision of Board 1 the Government took an appeal to this court and now contends that Board 1 was without jurisdiction of the matter and that therefore its decision is wholly invalid and void. We think the Government’s contention must be sustained. Section 28, subsection 12, of the tariff act of 1909 provides for the appointment of nine general appraisers of merchandise by the President, by and with the consent of the Senate, and requires that “said general appraisers of merchandise shall be divided into three boards of three members each, to be denominated, respectively, Board 1, Board 2, and Board 3.”
Under the provisions of the section just referred to, all notices in writing of dissatisfaction with the collector’s decision, together with the invoices and all papers and exhibits, are required to be forwarded to the board of nine general appraisers, to be assigned by ule thereof for hearing or determination or both, and each board
Section 14 of the customs administrative act of June 10, 1890, of which subsection 14 of section 28 of the act of 1909 is the successor, provided, among other things, that upon notice to the collector that the importer, consignee, or agent of imported merchandise was dissatisfied with the rate and amount of duties assessed thereon the invoice and all the papers and exhibits should be transmitted to "the board of three general appraisers, which shall be on duty at the port of New York, or to a board of three general appraisers who may be designated by the Secretary of the Treasury for such duty at that port or at any. other port, which board shall examine and decide the case thus submitted, and their decision, or that of a majority of them, shall be final and conclusive upon all persons interested therein, * *
On these provisions it was held in Prosser v. United States (158 Fed., 971, 972) that the board to which the papers were transmitted had exclusive jurisdiction of the case and that that jurisdiction could not be challenged or taken away by a vote of nine general appraisers and that a decision by any other board was without jurisdiction and must be vacated. If under the act of 1890 a majority of the nine general appraisers could not deprive a board of the right to dispose of a case which it had been designated to examine and decide, it is difficult to understand how under the act of 1909 the reassignment or transfer of a case by the president of the board, after trial — and not. before trial, as prescribed by the statute — could end the board’s jurisdiction of an issue which the law in express terms gave it full power to hear and determine.
Board 3 had jurisdiction to determine the classification of imported goods and the rate of duty which should be assessed thereon, and as
But even if the case had been properly assigned to Board 1, that Board was not authorized to make a decision of the issues involved without giving the parties an opportunity to be heard. If Board 1 had jurisdiction at all that fact gave it the right to hear and determine, but not the right to determine without a hearing or without an ■opportunity therefor having been' afforded. Windsor v. McVeigh (93 U. S., 274, 284). The right of a judicial tribunal to take cognizance of a proceeding depends on whether is has jurisdiction of the •subject matter and the parties, but its authority to adjudicate the