Benziger v. United States
Headline: Court allows painted church figures to enter duty-free as 'casts of sculpture,' making it easier for religious societies to import such devotional statues despite decoration or commercial labeling.
Holding: The Court held that the painted and gilded church figures are "casts of sculpture" entitled to free entry when specially imported in good faith and by order of a qualifying religious or educational society.
- Lets churches import ordered plaster casts duty-free
- Limits free entry to items ordered in good faith by societies
- Keeps commercial stock imports subject to duty
Summary
Background
A group importing painted and gilded plaster figures for churches challenged customs duties assessed on those items. Customs officials and an appraisers’ board treated the pieces as “statuary” and assessed duty under a narrow 1897 definition of statuary. The importers argued the figures were “casts of sculpture,” which paragraph 649 of the tariff act admits free when specially imported in good faith for religious, educational, or similar societies and ordered by those societies.
Reasoning
The Court focused on whether painting or gilding changed the figures’ substance so they no longer counted as casts of sculpture. It found the production process and material were the same as recognized plaster casts and that added paint or gilding did not defeat the statutory description. The Court also held the omission of certain words in a different free-entry paragraph of the 1897 act did not bar relief, because paragraph 649’s broad language covers casts of sculpture. The Court noted mixed expert testimony but relied on the manufacturing facts and prior Treasury practice and construed the provision liberally in favor of the importer.
Real world impact
The Court reversed the lower courts and ordered the customs collector to admit the figures free of duty. Religious and educational societies that specially order similar plaster casts in good faith may import them duty-free, provided the importation is by the society’s order and not for sale. The ruling protects special society orders while leaving ordinary commercial stock imports subject to duty.
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