pany. sador and consuls, and may also import raw silk or other goods 11thly, The purchased within the limits of the company's charter. But the Turkey Comexportation of gold and silver, either in foreign coin or bullion, is to remain subject to the by-laws of the company (1). A mode is prescribed for admitting persons resident abroad into the company (2). The statute 59 Geo. 3. c. 110. enacts, that all goods, to whomsoever they may belong, of the growth or production of Turkey or Egypt, or of any of the dominions of the Grand Seignior, imported into the United Kingdom directly from Turkey or Egypt, or from any of the dominions of the Grand Seignior, or from any other place, shall be subject to the duties payable to the Turkey company under the acts of parliament therein contained (3). The navigation act provides with respect to the trade to Turkey, that no currants nor commodities of the growth or production of the territories belonging to the Ottoman or Turkish empire, shall be imported into England or Ireland in any vessel but such as is of English-built and duly navigated, and in no other, except only in such foreign vessels as are of the built of the place where the goods were produced, or of the port where the goods can only be or most usually are first shipped for transportation, and whereof the master and three-fourths of the mariners at least are of that place, under the penalty of forfeiture of ship and goods (4). Raw silk or mohair yarn of the product and manufacture of Asia, which has been shipped in the Streights or Levant Seas within the dominions of the Grand Seignior, and is afterwards landed at Malta, Ancona, Venice, Messina, Leghorn, Genoa, and Marseilles, for the purpose of being opened and aired, when reshipped on board the vessel from which it was landed, will be deemed to have been imported from the place within the Seignior's dominions where the goods were first shipped, and not from the place where they were landed to be opened and aired. (5) (1) 26 Geo. 2. c. 19. s. 4. (4) 12 Car. 2. c. 18. s. 8. see ante, 193, 4. (5) 11 Geo. 3. c. 41. s. 4. Customs and relative Advantages of each. CHAP. XIII. Of the Law and Practice relating to the Duties of Customs and Excise, &c. HAVING now concluded our inquiry into the various modes adopted by the legislature for the encouragement and restraint of importation and exportation, we will proceed in the present chapter to consider the charges imposed on trade as a source of revenue to the state. The duties which operate as a direct charge on trade, and defined, and the which it is therefore now proposed to consider, are those of the customs and the excise. The customs are duties payable on merchandize brought into or carried out of the country, or on goods carried coastwise. The excise duties, on the other hand, are an inland imposition, and are imposed sometimes on the consumption of the commodity, but more frequently on the retail sale, which is the last stage before consumption. The custom duties, which are paid on the first introduction of goods into the country, are liable to objection on that account, as the merchant is obliged to charge in the price of the commodity, not only the tax itself, but also a commercial profit on such tax; and when the goods have to pass through the hands of various dealers, the accumulated profits on the tax very often exceed the amount of the tax itself (1). The duties of excise fall more lightly on the consumer than custom duties to the same amount, because they are generally paid in a much later stage. The expence of collecting them is also easier. But the frauds to which this branch of the revenue is exposed, have occasioned it to be protected by provisions which some have considered too rigorous and inquisitorial for the temper of a free nation. The frauds that might be committed, unless a strict watch was kept, have made it necessary to give the excise officers a power to enter and search the houses of persons who (1) Tucker on Trade, 38. 124. But see the method of bonding and warehousing goods, which has in a great measure removed this objection, ante, 546. servations. deal in excisable commodities, at any hour of the day, and, in General Obmany cases, of the night likewise; and the proceedings for a transgression against the law are so summary and expeditious, that a person may be convicted within a very short time in a penalty of many thousand pounds, by two commissioners or justices of the peace, to the total exclusion of the trial by jury and disregard of the common law. The regulations of the excise, however, are not without advantages ulterior to the production of revenue, inasmuch as they are the means of preserving some species of goods from adulteration, which might be highly prejudicial to the health of the community. The imposition of heavy duties on articles which may be called the necessaries of life, as on salt, leather, soap, and candles, or on manufactured goods, is liable to objection, on account of the influence of such a measure in depressing trade and industry: and the interest of the manufacturers seems also to require that the importation of foreign raw materials should be preserved, as much as possible, unencumbered with duty (1). The duties on importation constitute at the present day the principal branch of those that are levied under the name of customs, and the goods which are charged with duties on exportation are comparatively few. Formerly, indeed, duties were imposed on the exportation of almost every commodity, under an idea that such duties were not paid by the natives but by the foreign merchant; but this opinion is now exploded: experience has proved that foreign nations will not give beyond a certain price for any commodity whatever, and that by taxing goods exported we should either force them to give up the consumption, or to trade with other places for a supply (2). The duties on goods. carried coastwise are imposed on only three commodities, namely, coals, slate, and stone. Indeed it is one of the principal advantages of the uniform system of taxation, which, with a few exceptions of no great consequence, takes place in all the different parts of the united kingdom, that it leaves the interior commerce of the country, the inland and coasting trade, almost entirely free. The inland trade is almost perfectly free; and the greater part of goods may be conveyed from one end of the kingdom to the other, without having occasion for a permit or licence, and without being subject to any question, visit,' or examination Preliminary Observ. on Revenue. (1) See Tucker on Trade, 38. 2 Sinclair on the Revenue, 358 to (2) 2 Sincl. 360. and see as to 411. 3 Smith's W. of N. b. 5. c. 2. coals carried coastwise, 2 Sincl. p. 347, &c. 1 Bla. Com. 313 to 361. Smith's W. of N. b. 5. c. 2. 320. Highmore on Excise, vol. 1. Highmore on Excise, Introduction. General Observations. I. CUSTOMS. from the revenue officers. There are a few exceptions, but they are such as can give no interruption to any important branch of the inland commerce of the country. Goods carried coastwise indeed in general require certificates or coast cockets (1). But except coals, slate, and stone, such goods are in general duty free. This freedom of interior commerce, which is the effect of the uniformity of the system of taxation, is highly important in its influence on the prosperity of the kingdom, as every great country is necessarily the best and most extensive market for the greater part of the productions of its own industry. (2) The law relating to the customs may be considered in the folDivision of the lowing order; viz. First, the history of the customs, and the mode subject. in which they were anciently levied. Secondly, the consolidation acts, and the mode in which this part of the revenue is now collected (and herein, 1st, of the duties on importation; 2dly, on exportation; 3dly, on goods carried coastwise; 4thly, of the dock dues; 5thly, the South Sea duties; 6thly, the quarantine duties; 7thly, the duties of tonnage; 8thly, the countervailing duties charged on the trade between Great Britain and Ireland). Thirdly, the regulations prescribed by law to secure the payment of the duties-(and herein, 1st, of the ports and places at which a vessel may lawfully receive or discharge her cargo; 2dly, the time assigned for the discharge or loading; 3dly, of the manifest; 4thly, of the master's report and the entry made by the merchant, —of the valuation of the goods,—the bill of sight,—the allowances for tare, damage, &c.; 5thly, of the cocket or clearance; 6thly, of the warrant for landing or shipping the goods and the presence of the officer; 7thly, the regulations on carrying goods coastwise). Fourthly, the penalties and forfeitures consequent on trading in prohibited and uncustomed goods; the powers of searching for and seizing such goods; the method of procuring restoration to be made; the immunities and protection afforded to the officers, and the liability which they incur. Ist, Concise History of the Customs, and what were The customs, or charges in the nature of customs, have been imposed in Great Britain from the earliest times. When the anciently payable. Country was under the Roman government, heavy duties were imposed on goods imported and exported; and indeed, as the (1) As to the necessity for these, sce post. (2) Smith's W. of N. b. 4. c. 5. 2 Sincl. 361. Duties. chief aim of these warlike conquerors was to obtain a large reve- First, History nue from the nations that became subject to their dominion, it and Ancient was not likely that so obvious a method of raising money should be passed over or neglected (1). Afterwards the Saxon monarch Ethelred the second, among the laws made by the consent of the assemblage at Wantage in Berkshire, established duties on ships and merchandize, to be paid at Billingsgate in the port of London, according to the following rates; every boat arriving at Billingsgate paid for toll or custom, one halfpenny; a larger boat with sails, a penny; a keel or hulk, which was a vessel of a larger size, four-pence; a vessel with wood, one piece of wood; a boat with fish coming to the bridge, one halfpenny or one penny, according to her size (2). The customs therefore appear to have existed before the conquest, and they are said to have been at first small sums paid by the merchant for the use of the king's warehouses, weights, and measures (3). Duties of this nature on merchandize exported and imported have been considered by some authorities as the ancient inheritance of the crown which might be levied by the king's prerogative, without the aid of an act of parliament. (4) The considerations in respect of which this tribute was paid to his majesty, are said to have been the permission which he gave to his own subjects to travel out of the realm with their merchandize, or to foreign traders to bring goods into the kingdom; the dominion of his majesty over the sea, as well as his power as guardian of the ports and havens of the realm; and the protection which he afforded to the merchant against the attacks of enemies and pirates (5). The provisions of magna charta have been also cited to show that custom duties existed at the time of passing that act, and had been formerly exacted. The 30th chapter provides, that all merchants, if they were not openly prohibited before, shall have safe and secure conduct to depart out of England, to come into England, to tarry in and go through England, ad emendum & vendendum, sine (1) Sinclair on Rev. vol. 1. 16. Colquhoun's Brit. Emp. 130. (2) 1 Anders. Hist. Com. 98. 1 Macphers. Ann. 277. (3) 1 Sinclair, 45. Gilb. Exch. 214. 2 Hume, 177. (4) Dyer, 43 b. (24)-92 a. (17)-165 b. (5) Sir John Davies Reports in Ireland, 8, &c. Adm. Arquendo in Hampden's Case, 2 Rushw. 497, 498; but see Au thorities infra. 2 Inst. 59. Foster's (5) Davies, 9 b. Dyer, 43. pl. |