Merck v. United States

Smith, Judge,

delivered the following opinion of the court:

Goods invoiced as codeine hydrochlorate, codeine sulphate in powder, codeine pure crystals, and codeine pure precipitate, imported at the port of New York, were classified by the collector of customs as salts of opium and assessed for duty at $1 per ounce under the provisions of paragraph 43 of the tariff act of 1897, which, in so far as pertinent, reads as follows:

43. Opium, * * * one dollar per pound, morphia or morphine, sulphate of, and all alkaloids or salts of opium, one dollar per ounce; * * *.

The importer protested that these…