The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-09
WHAT|SAN ORIGINAL
PACKAGE?
Continued From Page One.)

kOonL1uueU from rage One.
in San Francisco, Tai Hing Lang &
Company. The tin was packed with
twenty others in small tin box.
Douthitt's Argument.
Z. A. Douthitt, attorney for the de-
PENDANT, presents the view that the
five-tael tin, and not the tin contain
ing the twenty-one fve-tael tins, was
the original package, and he presented
to the Supreme Court an elaborate and
wellworked out argument and brief
in support of his contention. He claims,
that the section of the territorial laws
for violation of which the defendant
was prosecuted is not applicable to the
sale of five-tael tin, for the reason
that the opium sold by Lam Zip Kee
was, at the time of the sale, in his
possession as an importer in the original
package and was protected from terri
torial statutes by virtue of the inter
state commerce clause in the Consti-
tuition.
The defense comedies that when the
opium was sold in California by the
original importer, Playfair, it became
subject to the laws of California. But
when it was imported from San Fran
cisco into Honolulu, it became an arti-
Gle of interstate rather than foreign
commerce and the defendant was,
therefore, given the same rights with
regard to the opium as were enjoyed
by Playfair, the original importer The
rights of the defendant, it is claimed,
are therefore measured by the famous
decision of the United States Supreme
g 7 -,
Hardin, the gist of which is that the
right of transportation of an article
of commerce from one state to another
includes the right of the consignee to
sell it in the original unbroken pack
age at the place where the transporta-
ton terminates.
The Principal Question.
The principal question to be decided
in the case, therefore, is whether or
not the five-tael tin of opium in ques-
ton is the original package. If it is,
then the territorial statutes can have
no application. Mr.. Douthitt claims
that it is an original package. Mr.
Milverton, on the other hand, claims
that the twenty-tin box was the o1igi-
nal package. 81
ue uc1SuSc -IcIitS taIlicje OIL
of the customs regulations of 1908,
which provides that each package of
opium must state on the outside the
size and weight of the package, the
date of import, the name of the i'm
porter, the name of the vessel on which
it was imported, and the date of entry,
and must bear on its face stamp
having on it the words, ''customs
paid. These stamps may be obtained
only through special requisition to the
Treasury department. att
All these regulations have been com
piled with in the case of the tin of
opium for the sale of which Lam Zip
Kee was arrested
Mr. Douthitt s lengthy brief goes
very fully into the subject and cites
every decision in the law books ap-
plicable to the case
Much Opium in Honolulu.
It is known that there is a great
amount of opium in the original five
tael packages in Honolulu. If the Su-
preme Court holds that fve-tael tin
is not an original package, then it is
illegal to sell these packages. But if
the decision is the other way, then
their sale is legal and the efforts of
the territorial authorities to suppress
the sale of opium in such quantities
must cease. The matter is, therefore,
very important one, and several hun
dred thousand dollars are involved.