Smith Thompson

“ It requires the Collector, whenever, in his opinion, there shall be just grounds to suspect that goods, subject to an ad valorem duty, have been invoiced below their true value, at the place from which they were imported, to have them appraised. This power is, to act upon a supposed case of fraud, attempted to be practised on the government, by making out the invoice below the actual cost. The great object to which the attention of the Collector is directed, is to ascertain the cost, that being the basis on which the duties are to be estimated. ”

“ Ordinarily, it will be found from his own knowledge, or the information he gets from others, of the market price of the goods, and if that should differ widely from the invoice prices, it will afford grounds for suspecting the invoice to be fraudulent. For, as a general course of business, it is to be presumed that goods are purchased at the common market price. The authority of the Collector to direct an appraisement, is regulated, however, entirely by his own suspicion that the invoice is untrue, and does not state the actual cost of the goods as required by law. ”

“ And if this be so, there ought to be a very clear expression of the legislative will, before a rule which had governed the practice on this subject for nearly thirty years, should be considered as abolished; and a new one adopted. And, we think, the act of 1818, (6 L. U.S. 300.) will not justify such a conclusion. ”