Case Name: SANDOW v. UNITED STATES
Court: United States Circuit Court for the Southern District of New York
Jurisdiction: United States
Decision Date: 1897-12-09
Citations: 84 F. 146
Docket Number: No. 1,881
Parties: SANDOW v. UNITED STATES.
Judges: 
Reporter: Federal Reporter
Volume: 84
Pages: 146–147

Head Matter:
SANDOW v. UNITED STATES.
(Circuit Court, S. D. New York.
December 9, 1897.)
No. 1,881.
1. Customs Duties — Classification—Implements of Occupation.
Articles properly classifiable as implements of occupation, which arrived sometime after the owner by a different ship, because the ship in which he came refused to carry them, were not entitled to free entry, under paragraph 686 of the act of I860, which provides for free admission of implements of occupation “in the actual possession at the time of persons arriving in the United States.”
3. Same —Carriage Horses.
Family carnage horses used as such abroad were entitled to free entry., under paragraph 516 of the act of 1890, as “household effects.”
This was an appeal by Eugene Sandow from a decision of the board of general appraisers as to the classification for duty of certain horses brought to this country by him.
Albert Comstock, for plaintiff.
James T. Van Rensselaer, Asst. U. S. Atty.

Opinion:
WHEELER, District Judge.
These are horses conceded, in argument, to have been so trained and used in exhibitions as to be implements of occupation of the plaintiff. The ship in which he came would not bring them, and they arrived otherwise a few days after he did. They were not in his possession as of a person at the time •'arriving within the United States," within the requirement of paragraph 686 of the act of 1890, for he was not then arriving, but had arrived some time before. Rosenfeld v. U. S., 13 C. C. A. 450, 66 Fed. 303. The evidence taken in this court shows that they had been used abroad as family carriage horses for three years before being brought to this country. Arthur v. Morgan, 112 U. S. 495, 5 Sup. Ct. 241, shows that a family carriage used abroad comes within the words "household effects," of paragraph 516. The reasoning by which this conclusion is arrived at in that case would seem to include the carriage horses necessary for the use of the carriage as well as the carriage itself. This construction has been put by the treasury department on importations of carriage horses since that time. This decision and the course of the department seem to require that these horses should be classified as household effects, under paragraph 516. Decision reversed.