Customs clearance

“ But the tradition of unified Customs, now nearly a century old, has immense potency, and unless it is fearlessly scrutinized and challenged, may be able, reinforced by the passions excited by the great controversy over Free Trade and Protection, to defy the warnings writ large upon the page of history. ”

“ And it has been thought by a very great practitioner, that if the laws of trade were regulated on a practicable application of them to the state of the colony trade, that every breach of them should be prosecuted in the same way. That there should be an advocate appointed to each court from Great Britain, who, having a proper salary independent of the people, should be directed and empowered to prosecute in that court, not only every one who was an offender, but also every officer of the customs, who through neglect, collusion, oppression, or any other breach of his trust became such. ”

“ The right of an importer, who has paid money, under a valid protest, to a collector of the customs, for duties illegally assessed, to maintain an action for its return has been acknowledged by congress and in this court. ”

“ The supervision of the admission of aliens into the United States may be intrusted by congress either to the department of state, having the general management of foreign relations, or to the department of the treasury, charged with the enforcement of the laws regulating foreign commerce; and congress has often passed acts forbidding the immigration of particular classes of foreigners, and has committed the execution of these acts to the secretary of the treasury, to collectors of customs, and to inspectors acting under their authority. ”

“ And if any colonist runs away to another patroon, or, contrary to his contract, leaves his service, we promise to do everything in our power to deliver the same into the hands of his patroon or commis that he may be prosecuted there according to the customs of this country, as occasion may require. ”

“ For this purpose, where there is no treaty and no controlling executive or legislative act or judicial decision, resort must be had to the customs and usages of eivilized nations, and, as evidence of these, to the works of jurists and commentators who by years of labor, research, and experience have made themselves peculiarly well acquainted with the subjects of which they treat. ”

“ We are repelled by the argument which leads to such consequences, whether regarding our own country or the foreign country made 'domestic.' If 'domestic' as to what comes from it, it is 'domestic' as to what goes to it, and its customs laws, as well as our customs laws, may be cast into confusion, and its business and affairs deranged before there is possibility of action. ”

“ Where a people's court delivers a verdict, ruling or an administrative authority concerned makes a decision to dispose of the goods under Customs control, the person concerned is required to accomplish all the necessary Customs formalities. ”

“ Where an importer of import goods or an exporter of export goods, a Customs clearing agent or its staff bribes Customs personnel, Customs may revoke its declaration registration or its occupation qualification and concurrently impose a fine; whoever constitutes a crime shall be investigated for criminal liability according to law and shall not be re-registered to be a Customs clearing agent or re-acquire a declaration qualification certificate. ”

“ Whoever engages in declaration business without Customs registration or occupation qualification of declaration shall be banned by Customs, the illegal proceeds obtained therefrom shall be confiscated, and a fine shall be imposed concurrently ”

“ The violation of the customs laws can be quite as easily prevented, and much more economically, by the revenue-cutter service and by the use of the special agent traveling force of the Treasury Department. A reorganization of the special customs agents has been perfected with a view to retaining only those who have special knowledge of the customs laws, regulations, and usual methods of evasion, and with this improvement, there will be no danger to the Government from the recommended consolidation and abolition of customs districts. ”

“ XLII. And it is hereby further enacted, That all penalties and forfeitures so recovered there, under this or any former act of parliament, shall be divided, paid, and applied, as follows; that is to say, after deducting the charges of prosecution from the gross produce thereof, one third part of the net produce shall be paid into the hands of the collector of his Majesty’s customs at the port or place where such penalties or forfeitures shall be recovered, for the use of his Majesty, his heirs and successors; one third part to the governor or commander in chief of the said colony or plantation ”

“ Customs have sprung from the necessities and the convenience of business and prevailed in duration and extent until they acquired the force of law. This mass of our jurisprudence has thus grown, and will continue to grow, by successive accretions. ”

“ The superior Customs shall conduct supervision over enforcement of the Customs at a lower level. The superior Customs may alter or repeal any inadequate settlement or decision according to law made by Customs at a lower level. ”

“ It is very well understood to be a part of the laws of nations, that each nation may designate, upon its own terms, the ports and places within its territory for foreign commerce, and that any attempt to introduce foreign goods elsewhere, within its jurisdiction, is a violation of its sovereignty. ”

“ I hereby direct the Secretary of the Treasury to instruct the collectors of customs at the several ports of entry that upon being satisfied that such visitors come as guests, in pursuance of the aforesaid invitation, they shall permit the entrance of such foreign soldiers into the United States, with their personal baggage, uniforms, arms, and equipments, without payment of customs duties thereon, and without other formality than such as may be necessary to insure the reexportation of said uniforms, baggage, arms, and equipments. ”

“ Where an enterprise approved by Customs engaging in related operations violates relevant provisions of this Law, Customs may order it to correct, render it a warning, suspend it from engaging in related operations or revoke its registration. ”

“ When, therefore, Congress undertakes to enact a law, which can only be valid as a regulation of commerce, it is reasonable to expect to find on the face of the law, or from its essential nature, that it is a regulation of commerce with foreign nations, or among the several States, or with the Indian tribes. ”

“ The practice of European governments to send officers to reside in foreign countries, authorized to [p57] exercise a limited jurisdiction over vessels and seamen of their country, to watch the interests of their countrymen, and to assist in adjusting their disputes and protecting their commerce, goes back to a very early period, even preceding what are termed the Middle Ages. . . . In other than Christian countries, they were, by treaty stipulations, usually clothed with authority to hear complaints against their countrymen and to sit in judgment upon them when charged with public offences. ”

“ If a person voluntarily discloses to a Party’s customs administration the circumstances of a breach of a customs law, regulation or procedural requirement prior to the discovery of the breach by the customs administration, the Party’s customs administration shall, if appropriate, consider this fact as a potential mitigating factor when a penalty is established for that person. ”

“ None the less, the absolute right of a country to regulate these matters in its own discretion must be recognized as a matter of strict law. Any country, in the absence of treaty, may, at its pleasure, exclude foreigners from entering into its territory, for example. ”

“ The power of the national government over commerce with foreign nations and among the several States is broad and comprehensive. It reaches the interior of every State of the Union, so far as it may be necessary to protect the products of other States and countries from discrimination by reason of their foreign origin. ”

“ In the absence of any central authority, the only sanction behind the code of rules established by custom or defined in treaties, known as “international law,” is the capacity of the powers to hold each other in check. ”

“ The country is told that British subjects in foreign lands are entitled — for that is the meaning of the resolution — to nothing but the protection of the laws and the tribunals of the land in which they happen to reside. The country is told that British subjects abroad must not look to their own country for protection, but must trust to that indifferent justice which they may happen to receive at the hands of the Government and tribunals of the country in which they may be. ”

“ In virtue of the principle recognised in the preceding article, should a rupture occur between the Republic and a foreign country, the subjects and citizens of that country residing within the territory of the Republic shall be allowed to remain there and continue their trade or profession without hindrance, provided that they conduct themselves with suitable fidelity, and in nowise violate the laws and regulations in force. Art. 10. The exportation of the produce of the country by foreigners shall be subjected to no other duty than that paid by natives. ”

“ In settling the question whether these laws impugn treaties or regulate either foreign commerce or that between the States, or impose a duty on imports, ordinary justice to the States demands that they be presumed to have meant what they profess, till the contrary is shown. ”

“ The doctrine is firmly established that the power to exclude or expel aliens is vested in the political departments of the government, to be regulated by treaty or by act of Congress, and to be executed by the executive authority according to such regulations, except so far as the judicial department is authorized by treaty or by statute, or is required by the Constitution, to intervene. ”

“ The case of Truls Arild Halvorsen is only one of countless thousands of smuggling cases recorded in files which now are gathering dust in the archives of the Customs Bureau, the oldest agency in the Federal government.
The Bureau of Customs—or the Customs Service, as it is often called—is the nation’s border guard. For more than 170 years it has had the primary responsibility for policing the foreign trade, collecting tariff duties on imports, and exposing conspiracies which would defraud the Treasury of the United States. ”

“ A just and uniform law in this respect would strengthen the hands of the Government in protecting its citizens abroad and would pave the way for the conclusion of treaties of naturalization with foreign countries.
The legislation of the last session effected in the diplomatic and consular service certain changes and reductions which have been productive of embarrassment. The population and commercial activity of our country are steadily on the increase, and are giving rise to new, varying, and often delicate relationships with other countries. ”

“ Without reference to other constitutional provisions, Congress has, in my judgment, broad powers to regulate the issuance of passports under its specific power to regulate commerce with foreign nations. ”

“ That the supremacy of the national power in the general field of foreign affairs, including power over immigration, naturalization and deportation, is made clear by the Constitution was pointed out by authors of The Federalist in 1787, [9] and has since been given continuous recognition by this Court. [10] When the national government by treaty or statute has established rules and regulations touching the rights, privileges, obligations or burdens of aliens as such, the treaty or statute is the supreme law of the land. ”

“ In the mean time another act of Parliament, so doubtful and ambiguous in its import as to have been misunderstood by the officers in the colonies who were to carry it into execution, opens again certain colonial ports upon new conditions and terms, with a threat to close them against any nation which may not accept those terms as prescribed by the British Government. ”

“ At the same time, this kingdom, as the supreme governing and legislative power, has always bound the colonies by her laws, by her regulations, and restrictions in trade, in navigation, in manufactures, in every thing, except that of taking their money out of their pockets without their consent. ”

“ The heads of the power to regulate commerce with foreign nations, are stated to be,
To prohibit them or their commodities from our ports. To impose duties on them where none existed before, or to increase existing duties on them. To subject them to any species of Customhouse regulation. To grant them any exemptions or privileges which policy may suggest. This enumeration is far more exceptionable than either of the former: It omits every thing that relates to the citizens, vessels, or commodities, of the United States. ”

“ That the act of state doctrine is rooted in a well-established concept of international law is evidenced by the practice of other countries. These countries, without employing any act of state doctrine, afford substantial respect to acts of foreign states occurring within their territorial confines. [6] Our act of state doctrine, as formulated in past decisions of the Court, carries the territorial concept one step further. It precludes a challenge to the validity of foreign law on the ordinary conflict of laws ground of repugnancy to the public policy of the forum. ”