# United States v. Tenbroek

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United States Supreme Court
15 U.S. 248
United States v. Tenbroek
ERROR to the circuit court for the district of Pennsylvania.
This was an action of debt commenced in the district court in Pennsylvania, by the United States against the defendant in error, to recover a penalty alleged to have been incurred for using a still, and distilling spirituous liquors, without having a license therefor, as required by an act of congress passed on the 24th of July, 1813.
This act imposes a duty, according to the capacity of the still, on all stills employed in distilling spirits from domestic or foreign materials, and inflicts a penalty of 100 dollars, and double duties, on all persons who, after the first day of January then ensuing, should use any still, or stills, or other implements, in distilling spirituous liquors, without having first obtained a license, as required by the provisions of the act. For every license the act imposes a duty of nine cents for each gallon of the capacity of the still employed in distilling spirits from domestic materials for the term of two weeks, and in proportion for a longer period. And, on all stills employed in distilling spirits from foreign materials, a duty of 25 cents for each gallon of the capacity of the still for the time of one month.
To the declaration, which was in the usual form, the defendant, in proper person, plead nil debet, on which issue was joined. It was proved on the trial, and admitted by the defendant, that he was the proprietor of a distillery within the district of Pennsylvania, which he used, and for which he had not taken out a license, agreeably to the act of congress before recited. It was also proved, on the part of the defendant, that his distillery was not used in distilling spirits from domestic materials, but in rectifying the said spirits after they had been distilled from domestic materials; that he is not a distiller, but a rectifier of spirits. He contended that distillation and rectification of spirits are distinct vocations; that rectifying such spirits is not a part of the process of distillation, but a mere purification of the spirits themselves from feculent or useless matter; and that he was not liable to the penalty of the act of congress. The attorney for the United States contended, that rectification of spirits in a distillery is nothing more than distillation repeated, and in this repetition the spirits must be deemed, and in fact are, domestic materials.
The court charged the jury that the act of congress, laying duties on licenses to distillers of spirituous liquors, did not apply unless when the still is used for the purpose of distilling spirits from domestic or foreign materials; and that if the still, or other implement, be not employed in distilling spirits from domestic or foreign materials, there can be no penalty incurred for using a still for any other purpose, although no license be taken out; and that spirits cannot be considered as a domestic material. That penal laws must be construed strictly, and must not be amplified by intendment. That whether rectification be part of the process of distillation, was a fact to be left to the jury. The counsel for the United States excepted to this charge. There was a verdict and judgment for the defendant.
The cause was removed by writ of error to the circuit court, when the judgment of the district court was affirmed with costs.
It was brought before this court by writ of error, and submitted on the observations of the Attorney-General.
March 1st.
The Attorney-General now contended, for the United States, that the district judge ought not to have permitted witnesses to be examined. It was no case for the application of the maxim, quilibet in sua arte credendum est. If the witnesses knew nothing of the subject, their testimony could not enlighten others. If they did, it was plain that their knowledge was derived from being engaged in the same line of business, which gave them an interest in the construction of the law. In the case of the Cast-Plate Glass Company,a Chief Baron Eyre declares that, in explaining an act of parliament, no evidence should be admitted; for that would be to make it a question of fact, in place of a question of law. The judge alone must direct the jury on the point of law. In doing this, he must form his judgment of the meaning of the legislature, in the same manner as if the case had come before him by demurrer, where no evidence can be allowed. On demurrer, a judge may well inform himself, from dictionaries or books, on the particular subject concerning the meaning of any word. Yet, if he does so at
Mr. Justice DUVALL delivered the opinion of the court, and after stating the facts, proceeded as follows:

## Notes

This work is in the public domain in the United States because it is a work of the United States federal government (see 17 U.S.C. 105).
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