US SUPREME COURT DECISIONS

By the Tariff Act of 1842, the custom house appraisers are directed to ascertain, estimate and appraise by all reasonable ways and means in their power the true and actual market value of goods &c., and have power to require the production, on oath, of all letters, accounts, or invoices relating to the same. If the importer shall be dissatisfied with the appraisement, he may appeal to two merchant appraisers.

Where there was an importation of Peruvian bark, and the appraisers directed a chemical examination to be made of the quantity of quinine which it contained, although the rule may have been inaccurate, yet it did not destroy the validity of the appraisement.

The importer having appealed, and the appraisers having then called for copies of letters &c., the importer withdrew his appeal without complying with the requisition. The appraisement then stands good.

The appraisers having reported the value of the goods to be more than ten percent above that declared in the invoice, the collector assessed an additional duty of twenty percent under the eighth section of the Act of 1846, 9 Stat. 43. This additional duty was not entitled to be refunded, as drawback, upon reexportation.

This case was an action brought by Bartlett against Kane, who was the collector of the port of Baltimore, for the refunding of certain duties alleged to be illegally exacted upon the importation of Peruvian bark.

The circumstances of the case are fully stated in the opinion of the court. chanrobles.com-red

Page 57 U. S. 269