Morrison Waite

“ Section 2630 of the Revised Statutes gives authority to every collector of customs to employ, with the approval of the secretary of the treasury, 'such number of persons as deputy collectors as he shall deem necessary, and such deputies are declared to be officers of the customs.' There can be no doubt that the collector is answerable for all the acts of his deputies in the performance of their official duties under him. The real question here is, therefore, whether the collection of the carrier's charges was a part of the official duty of the collector. ”

“ His liability, if any there is, grows out of his official duty to keep the goods, and deliver them to the consignees thereof when the import duties are paid and the carrier's lien discharged. The allegation is that the collector, instead of notifying the carrier, as the law required, delivered the goods to the consignees on receiving himself the moneys due for the carrier's charges. ”

“ If they were made without the authority of the company to whom the freight belonged, the company is under no obligation to accept the payment thus exacted in discharge of its debt for the freight, and may still proceed against the consignees for its recovery. ”