Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 4.djvu/675

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TWENTY-SECOND CONGRESS.⁠Sess. II. Ch. 55.⁠1832.

aforesaid, the sum of six thousand one hundred and ten dollars be appropriated for the purchase of instruments; and the further sum of seven thousand five hundred dollars for the expenses of taking such observations.

Franking privilege extended.
Act of March 3, 1825, ch. 43, sec. 6Sec. 6. And be it further enacted, That so much of the twenty-seventh section of the act approved third of March, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-five, as restricts the franking privilege of members of Congress to the period of sixty days before and after each session, shall be, and the same hereby is repealed, and it shall be lawful for the said privilege to be exercised by each member of Congress from the period of sixty days before he takes his seat in Congress until the meeting of the next Congress, and that said privilege shall be extended to all members of the present Congress until the next session.

Approved, March 2, 1833.

Statute ⅠⅠ.

March 2, 1833.

Chap. LV.—An Act to modify the act of the fourteenth of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, and all other acts imposing duties on imports.^[1]

Act of July 14, 1832, ch. 227.
Act of March 2, 1833, ch. 57.
Act of Aug. 20, 1822, ch. 270.
After Dec. 31, 1833, all duties exceeding twenty per cent. to be reduced by biennially striking off one tenth, of the excess, &c.Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-three, in all cases where duties are imposed on foreign imports, by the act of the fourteenth day of July, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-two, entitled “An act to alter and amend the several acts imposing duties on imports,” or by any other act, shall exceed twenty per centum on the value thereof, one tenth part of such excess shall be deducted; from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven, another tenth part thereof shall be deducted; from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine, another tenth part thereof shall be deducted; and from and after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and forty-one, one half of the reside [residue] of such excess shall be deducted; and from and after the thirtieth day of June, one thousand eight hundred and forty-two, the other half thereof shall be deducted.

Duty on plains, kerseys, &c. raised to fifty per cent.Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, That so much of the second section of the act of the fourteenth of July aforesaid, as fixes the rate of duty on all milled and fulled cloth, known by the names of plains, kerseys, or kendal cottons, of which wool is the only materials, the value whereof does not exceed thirty-five cents a square yard, at five per centum ad valorem, shall be, and the same is hereby, repealed. And the said

↑ The act of Congress of March 2, 1833, ch. 55, commonly called “The compromise act,” did not, prospectively, repeal all duties upon imports after 30th June, 1842. Repealing only such parts of previous acts as were inconsistent with itself, it left in force, after June 1842, the same duties which were in force on the first of June, 1842. Aldridge and others v. Williams, 3 Howard, 1.
The provisions of the act of 1833, by which duties were to be levied, after June 1, 1842, on the home valuation, “under such regulations as may be prescribed by law,” comprehended all the regulations existing under the law at the time when the duties, according to the home valuation, accrued. The regulations established by the 7th and 8th sections of the act of 1832, were, after the compromise act expired, in force, and were sufficient for the collection of duties after June 1, 1842. Ibid.
The 9th section of the act of 1832, makes it the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, under the direction of the President, to establish, when necessary, rules and regulations to secure a just, faithful, and impartial appraisal of merchandise, and just and proper entries of them. It is very clear that any regulations within the authority thus given, are regulations prescribed by law. Ibid.
In expounding this law, the judgment of the court cannot, in any degree, be influenced by the construction placed upon it by individual members of Congress, in the debate which took place on its passage; nor by the motives or reasons assigned by them for supporting or opposing amendments offered. The law, as it passed, is the will of a majority of both houses, and the only mode in which this will is spoken, is in the act itself; and we must gather their intention from the language there used, comparing it, where any ambiguity exists, with laws upon the same subject; and looking, if necessary, to the public history of the times in which it was passed. Ibid. 24.

[1] The act of Congress of March 2, 1833, ch. 55, commonly called “The compromise act,” did not, prospectively, repeal all duties upon imports after 30th June, 1842. Repealing only such parts of previous acts as were inconsistent with itself, it left in force, after June 1842, the same duties which were in force on the first of June, 1842. Aldridge and others v. Williams, 3 Howard, 1.
The provisions of the act of 1833, by which duties were to be levied, after June 1, 1842, on the home valuation, “under such regulations as may be prescribed by law,” comprehended all the regulations existing under the law at the time when the duties, according to the home valuation, accrued. The regulations established by the 7th and 8th sections of the act of 1832, were, after the compromise act expired, in force, and were sufficient for the collection of duties after June 1, 1842. Ibid.
The 9th section of the act of 1832, makes it the duty of the Secretary of the Treasury, under the direction of the President, to establish, when necessary, rules and regulations to secure a just, faithful, and impartial appraisal of merchandise, and just and proper entries of them. It is very clear that any regulations within the authority thus given, are regulations prescribed by law. Ibid.
In expounding this law, the judgment of the court cannot, in any degree, be influenced by the construction placed upon it by individual members of Congress, in the debate which took place on its passage; nor by the motives or reasons assigned by them for supporting or opposing amendments offered. The law, as it passed, is the will of a majority of both houses, and the only mode in which this will is spoken, is in the act itself; and we must gather their intention from the language there used, comparing it, where any ambiguity exists, with laws upon the same subject; and looking, if necessary, to the public history of the times in which it was passed. Ibid. 24.

[1]