Tappan v. United States
U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Massachusetts
This was a writ of error from the judgment of the district court of Massachusetts, rendered in an action of debt upon a bond for duties due at the custom house.
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This was a writ of error from the judgment of the district court of Massachusetts, rendered in an action of debt upon a bond for duties due at the custom house. The defendants [John Tappan and others] after dyer of the bond and conditions, pleaded a tender of the duties due, and brought the amount into court; the replication of the United States alleged a larger sum to be due for duties, and upon this point an issue was joined by the parties, upon which a verdict was returned in favour of the government At the trial, a bill of exceptions was taken by the defendants, which was in substance as…
1Opinion of the Court
STORY, Circuit Justice.
Several objections have been taken by one of the learned counsel for the plaintiffs in error to the constitutionality of the act of 20th of April, 1818, c. 74 [3 Story’s Laws, 1679; 3 Stat 433, c. 79], under which the duties in this case were by an appraisement, ascertained. I do not feel myself called upon to discuss these objections minutely, however ingeniously they were urged, because it seems to me, that they may be disposed of by the single remark, that as congress has the constitutional power “to lay and collect taxes and duties,” and “to regulate commerce with…
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