with, may receive such drawback, and their receipt upon the Encouragements debenture shall be a discharge, (1). And the agent of a corpo- of Exportation. ration or company, trading by a joint stock, is allowed to make Drawbacks. oath in the manner allowed by law, to entitle the corporation or company to obtain a drawback. And any proprietors of lands in any of his Majesty's plantations, or any person whatever, is allowed to export any goods from any place other than that at which they reside, if such persons reside at a greater distance than 20 miles from such place; and any persons whatever are also allowed to export from any place other than that at which they reside, any goods whatsoever of British manufacture, being the property of such persons, by and in the name of an agent; and such agent is authorized to do every thing to entitle the real proprietors of the goods to every bounty, drawback or allowance due by law upon the exportation of such goods, and to recover the same, in as full and ample a manner as if the real proprietors were to act therein. Provided such agent shall testify on oath on the back of the debenture, besides what is already by law required to be testified on oath before the collector or controller or other chief officer of the customs, the names of the real proprietors of goods and their known place of abode, and shall, if required by the collector or controller, or other chief officer, give good and sufficient reason for his knowledge of the place to which the goods are intended to be exported (2). The statute Relanding Draw8 Ann. c. 13. (3) provides that in case foreign goods contained in any certificate, whereupon a drawback is to be made, or whereupon any debenture is to be made out for such drawback, shall not be really and bona fide shipped and exported (the danger of the seas and enemies excepted), or shall be landed again in any part of Great Britain, unless in case of distress to save the goods from perishing, which shall be presently made known to the persons in the management of the customs, or the principal officers of the port, then not only all such certificate goods shall be forfeited, but also all the persons (being the exporters or any others) who shall bring back or cause to be relanded such cer (1) See Cook v. Attorney Gene ral, Parker 266. Com. Dig. Trade, C. 4. ante. (2) 26 G. 3. c. 40. s. 18. Pope, tit. 10. r. 52. By 27 G. 3. c. 81. 8. 25. in all cases where any goods intended to be exported upon drawback or bounty are subject to any duty of excise, the oaths required by the 26 G. 3. on the exportation (3) 8 Ann. c. 13. s. 16. See back Goods. of Exportation. Drawbacks. Encouragements tificate goods, or any of them, in any part of Great Britain, or be assisting or otherwise concerned in unshipping the same, or to whose hands the same shall knowingly come after the unshipping thereof, or by whose privity, knowledge or direction the goods or any part thereof shall be relanded, shall forfeit double the amount of the drawback for such goods, together with the vessel and boats, and all the horses and carriages made use of in conveying the same, to be recovered at any time within five years after the commission of the offence. (1) Landing Drawback Goods in Plantations. Certificate of A heavy penalty is incurred by landing goods in the plantations, when they have been entered for other places, in order to obtain a drawback. The statute 4 Geo. 3. c. 15. s. 16. enacts, that if any person shall enter goods for exportation to parts beyond the seas, other than to the British plantations in America, in order to obtain any drawback not allowed by that act upon the exportation of such goods to the plantations, and the goods shall nevertheless be carried to any British plantation in America, and landed there, the drawback shall be forfeited, and the exporter as well as the master of the vessel shall forfeit double the amount of the drawback and treble the value of the goods. (2) It is enacted by the stat. 26 Geo. 3. c. 40. that no bounty or Guernsey, &c. premium shall be paid upon any goods exported from this kingdom to Ireland (3); and no drawback, bounty or premium shall be paid upon any goods whatever exported from this kingdom to the islands of Guernsey or Jersey, nor any debenture be made out for such drawback, bounty, or premium, until a certificate shall be produced under the hands and seals of the collector, controller, and surveyor of customs, or any two of them, belonging to such port in Ireland, or from the register of certificates or other chief officer of customs in the said islands of Guernsey or Jersey, as such goods shall have been respectively landed at, certifying that the goods have been duly landed there. (4) Bounty and Doubts have existed as to the time when the right to a Drawback, Time bounty on exportation is vested in the exporter. The statute when payable, and Decisions. (1) As to a mere intention to reland being a violation of this law, see Wilson v. Saunders, 1 Bos. & Pul. 267. and Forrest's Rep. 35. and ante. title 10. rule 43. (3) By the act of union, 39 & 40 G. 3. c. 67. bounties on Irish goods are to cease. (4) 26 G. 3. c. 40. s. 19. Pope, (2) 4 G. 3. c. 15. s. 16. Pope, tit. 10. rule 53. Drawbacks. 53 Geo. 3. c. 105., which was passed to remedy these doubts, Encouragements of Exportation. enacts, that such right shall be deemed to attach as soon as any goods shall be shipped on board the vessel in which such Bounties and goods shall be laden for exportation, and shall be afterwards duly exported (1). When on the exportation of corn a notice was given to the officer of the customs that the exporter intended to ship 1100 quarters of British wheat, by virtue of the statute 31 Geo. 3. c. 30., and one bushel was immediately put on board; but the remainder of the quantity on which the bounty was claimed, which amounted to 989 quarters, instead of 1100 quarters, as specified in the notice, was not put on board till ten days afterwards; it was held in the court of exchequer that the whole quantity put on board within the ten days was entitled to the bounty, it having been found by the jury that the shipment of the one bushel was a bona fide beginning to ship the corn with intent to load the rest at a subsequent time (2). When a drawback is payable on exportation, it appears that the master of the vessel cannot entitle himself to the drawback without producing the clearing note, which is the last document that he receives; and on an exportation from London it is not given to the master till after he has delivered all necessary papers at Gravesend so that an exportation from London is not complete until the ship has cleared at Gravesend (3): and when a licence was granted by the crown for exporting a cargo on any day before the 10th September, and the ship cleared at the custom-house in London on the 9th, but was delayed in the river (1) 53 G. 3. c. 105. s. 8. The section proceeds," and no claim for bounty on printed calicoes shall be valid, unless such printed calicoes were shipped on board some vessel for exportation on or before 5th of July 1812, and were afterwards exported in the same vessel; see also as to sugar, 32 G. 3. c. 43. s. 2. and 58 G. 3. c. 34. s. 2.; and see the King v. Cookson, 16 East, 376 and 379. Ex parte Wilson, 1 Anstr. 269. 2 Anstr. 444. 20 days from the entry, to be ex- (3) Williams v.Marshall, 6Taunt. (2) Wilson v. Sutton, 2 Anstruther's Rep. 444. This decision took place under the statute 31 G. 3. c. 30., and see s. 10 of the act, which allowed corn begun to be shipped outwards, or such part as should be shipped within of Exportation. Bounties and Drawbacks. Encouragements by the breaking of a bowsprit, and did not receive her clearing note at Gravesend until the 12th; it was held that no exportation had taken place on the 10th; that the voyage therefore was not protected by the licence, and was illegal, as the ship was going to a hostile port (1). So it has been determined by the court of exchequer, that although a cargo has been shipped, and the vessel entered at the custom-house, and the cargo duly entered and cleared for exportation, yet unless the vessel has proceeded out of the limits of the port, no exportation has taken place so as to protect the cargo from duties afterwards imposed on the exportation of goods of the same nature (2). The conveyance of goods from one port in Great Britain to another, or from England to Scotland, is not an exportation of them so as to found a claim to any bounty or drawback, unless there be a special provision to that effect (3). And though when it is made out to the satisfaction of the commissioners of excise that exciseable goods on which a bounty or drawback of excise is given by law, have been lost in the voyage, on their fair and regular export from Great Britain for Ireland, Guernsey, or Jersey, &c., a debenture may be obtained for such drawback or bounty for the goods (4); yet where sugar had been shipped for exportation, and was burnt on board the vessel at her moorings in the river Thames, the lords of the treasury refused to allow the bounties which would have become due on complete exportation. (5) Mode of proceeding for the Drawback. The manner of proceeding at the custom-house, in order to obtain the drawback on the export of foreign goods, usually is to obtain a certificate of the payment of the duties inwards from the collector and comptroller, and proof is to be made that the goods to be exported are those mentioned in the certificate, by the oaths of the exporter, and the merchants through whose hands they have passed. The exporter then enters the goods outwards, as in the common way of exportation. The cocket granted upon this occasion is called a certificate cocket, and differs a little in form from common over-seacockets. Notice (1) Williams v. Marshall, 6 Taunt. 390. 2 Marsh. Rep. 92. 7 Taunt. 468. V. (2) The Attorney General Pougett, 2 Price 381. Williams v. Marshall, 7 Taunt. 468. (3) Scotland v. Wilson, 5 Taunt. 533. 1 Marsh. 204, 5. S. C. The King v. Orpheur, Parker 269. (4) 41 G. 3. U. K. c. 91. Pope, tit. 11. rule 6. (5) Pope, tit. 11. rule 6. note (a), see Williams v. Marshall, 2 Marsh. 95, 6. 6 Taunt. 393. S. C. Drawbacks. of the time of shipping is to be given to the searcher who attends Encouragements of Exportation. the shipping, examines and ascertains the quantity, and returns the cocket endorsed to the officers who granted it; all other Bounties and proceedings at clearing the vessel are the same as in ordinary cases. Some time after the departure of the vessel, the merchant exporter may apply to the collector and comptroller for the drawback, who will thereupon make out a debenture on a proper stamp, containing a distinct and clear narrative of the whole proceeding, with the merchant's oath that the goods are really and truly exported to parts beyond the seas, and not relanded nor intended to be relanded or brought on shore again, and also the searcher's certificates of the quality and quantity of the goods at the time of shipping underwritten. The debenture being thus duly made out and sworn to, the branches of duty to be repaid are endorsed, the merchant's receipt taken below, and the money due paid. (1) Before we dismiss this subject, it will be necessary briefly to enquire into the remedies to be resorted to when a drawback or bounty is withheld from those entitled to it. The court of King's Bench, in a late case, allowed a writ of mandamus to be issued, to compel a collector of excise to administer the necessary oaths, and to pay over a drawback on goods exported (2). But where a quantity of malt which had paid the duty had been burned, and the officer of excise refused to grant a certificate in order that the duty might be returned, the court of King's Bench refused to issue a mandamus, on the application of the insurance company, on the ground that the case was properly cognizable in the court of Exchequer (3). The court of Exchequer afterwards granted an order to compel the officer to perform his duty, but it appears to have been obtained by consent (3); and that court has refused to make an order to compel the officers of the customs to grant a debenture on the exportation of wheat, on an affidavit that the wheat was laden on board the vessel at a time when no bounty could be claimed, but that before the vessel sailed the price was lowered so as to entitle the exporter to a bounty; the court said that it was a question of general importance, whether an exportation had taken place so as to entitle the exporter to the bounty claimed; and that such a case (1) See the forms of this Deben. ture, &c. post, appendix. (2) The King v. Cookson, 16 East, 376. ante, 601, 602, 603. on 38 Geo. 3. c. 54. s. 4. on drawback on beer. The case was decided (3) Case of Calvert's malt. Remedy for Drawback. |