Smith Thompson

“ Yet we do not think, under the evidence in the cause, we, as an appellate court, ought to reverse the decree of the court below, and decree a forfeiture, especially as we cannot say, from the evidence, that the article, in point of fact, differs from the entry at the customhouse. It is difficult to say what is its true denomination. The witnesses speak of it as a new article, not known in trade. None call it sugar. All seem to think it may be called syrup, in some sense, though several think it is not such, according to the understanding of that article in trade and commerce. ”

“ All laws regulating the payment of duties are for practical application to commercial operations, and are to be understood in a commercial sense. And it is to be presumed that congress so used and intended them to be understood.
Two of the witnesses on the part of the United States who were merchants, and had dealt largely in sugars, and apparently very competent judges on the subject, testified, that sugar dissolved in water is not considered syrup, in the sense generally used in common parlance, as an article of commerce. To make syrup, the sugar must be boiled and clarified. ”