Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ It was held that the respondent could not be convicted under section 593. Keck v. United States, 172 U.S. 434, 19 S.C.t. 254, 43 L. Ed. 505, was taken to establish that smuggling could not be committed before the moment when the obligation to pay arose; that is, after the duty was established at the custom house.
Keck v. United States did not decide that a man who wishes to smuggle must wait until he can find a custom house. Its effect is simply that the customs line is not passed by goods at sea when they pass the three-mile limit and have not yet been landed. ”

“ If they had been carried across the boundary in such a way as to avoid a port of entry, we suppose that the offence of smuggling would have been complete when they passed the line, although the smuggler might repent and afterwards report for payment of duties. ”

“ Here diamonds were clandestinely introduced upon the soil of the United States, and although they would pass a point at which they ought to be examined, they would not have been, but on the contrary would have been secure from further inspection had the trick succeeded. ”