Source: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/276/124/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 18:19:07+00:00

Document:
A state license tax upon dealing in fish, regulated according to the weight sold, is not unconstitutional as applied to imported fish which, when the tax attaches, have lost their distinctive character as imports and have become, through processing, handling, and sale, a part of the common property of the state. P. 276 U. S. 126. 17 F.2d 374, affirmed.
Appeal from a decree of the district court of three judges, denying a final injunction and dismissing the bill in a suit by the fisheries company to enjoin the defendant, a county attorney, from instituting criminal proceedings to enforce payment of a tax.
The general statutes of Texas provide that no person shall engage in the business of wholesale dealer in fish without procuring a license from the game, fish, and oyster commissioner; that the licensee shall pay a tax of $1 for each 1,000 pounds of fish handled by him, and that failure to pay the tax shall constitute a misdemeanor for which the person offending may be punished. Texas Penal Code, 1925, Art. 936.
The Gulf Fisheries Company, a New York corporation engaged in the wholesale fish business at Galveston, Texas, brought this suit against the county attorney in the Federal Court for Southern Texas. The bill alleged that, as applied to the plaintiff, the above statute is void, as it lays an impost on imports and burdens foreign and interstate commerce, thus violating the federal Constitution; that, because the statute is void, plaintiff refused to pay the tax demanded; that, because of its refusal, criminal proceedings are threatened, and that, unless these are enjoined, plaintiff will be subjected to irreparable injury to an amount exceeding $3,000. Both an interlocutory and a final injunction were prayed for. A temporary restraining order issued. An application for the interlocutory injunction was made and heard before three judges under § 266 of the Judicial Code . The defendant moved to dismiss the bill, and also answered. Upon final hearing before the three judges, the "temporary injunction" was dissolved, the final injunction was denied, and the bill was dismissed. Gulf Fisheries Co. v. Darrouzet, 17 F.2d 374. The case is here on direct appeal from the final decree. Smith v. Wilson, 273 U. S. 388; Clark v. Poor, 274 U. S. 554.
filling orders. None is placed in cold storage plants. All are shipped from the wharf as fast as they can be reiced, washed, handled, and loaded as above stated. Nearly all are shipped on the day they are unloaded from the boats. Occasionally, some are held in the ice boxes on the wharf for more than 48 hours. All are sold to wholesale dealers in quantities of from 50 to 400 pounds. None is sold to retailers.
The tax is laid not according to the weight of the fish when landed, but upon the fish sold. * All that is sold, has been handled as above stated. None of it has remained in its original condition. None is in an original package, and little in its original form. This is obviously true of the 75 percent which is beheaded and gutted and of the 7 to 10 percent more which is gutted and gilled with the heads on. But the small remainder is, when sold, no longer in its original condition. Before sale, it is washed and reiced. It is taken from the bulk and put loose with ice in barrels. And all this has been done on the wharf. These facts make inapplicable cases like Brown v. Maryland, 12 Wheat. 419; Low v. Austin,; Cook v. Pennsylvania, 97 U. S. 566. All the fish sold have, after landing and before laying the tax, been so acted upon as to become part of the common property of the state. They have lost their distinctive character as imports and have become taxable by the state. Compare Sonneborn Bros. v. Cureton, 262 U. S. 506.
* Compare Adams Fish Market v. Sterrett, 106 Tex. 562, 563, 564; Texas Revised Civil Statutes (1911) Art. 3987; Texas Penal Code (1911) Art. 917; Texas General Laws (1913), c. 135, p. 272 (Art. 917); c. 146, p. 299, (Art. 3987); Texas General Laws, 1919, c. 73, art. 16; Texas General Laws, 1925, c. 178, p. 439 (Art. 16).

References: Art. 936
 § 266
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 Art. 3987
 Art. 917
 art. 16