Ton

In weight: sometimes two thousand pounds avoirdupois;' sometimes two thousand two hundred pounds.* In jneasuremeht: forty cubic feet.' Tonnage. (1) A custom or impost paid to the king for merchandise carried out or brought in in ships, or such like vessels, according to a certain rate upon every ton. (2) In our law, " intevnal cubical capacity in tons of one thovisand cubic feet each." 8 In commercial designation, the number of tons burden a ship or vessel will carry, as ascertained by official admeasurement and computation prescribed by public authority." ' Mc Kee v. Grand Rapids &c.

E. Co., 41 Mich, 379 (1879), Campbell, C. J. ' Lake Superior, &c. E. Co. v. United States, 93 U. S. 458-59 (1876), Miller, J. See also 89 Ohio St. 658; 18 Ct. CI. 58; 22 E. L. & E. 526; 105 E. C. L. 60; 12 East, 340. s County Commissioners v. Chandler, 96 U. S. 808 (1877): Comyns' Digest. * Markets Company v. Neath, &c. E. Co., L. E., 7 C. P. 566 (1872). » See 1 N. Y. Eev. St. 609, § 35; 9 Paige, 188; 40 N. T. 262; 29 Pa. 27; 3 Wall. Jr. 46. » See Act of Congress, 30 Aug. 1842, c. 270, B. 20. ' Roberts v. Opdyke, 40 N. Y. 268 (1869). 8 Inman Steamship Co. V. Thiker, 94 U. S. 243 (1876): Tonnage tax.

A tax or duty on tonnage; 1 a duty levied on a vessel according to its tonnage or capacity.2 A tonnage tax is imposed, whatever the subject, solely according to the rule of weight, either as to capacity to carry or as to the actual weight of the thing itself.' The registered tonnage of vessiils is ascertained by rules provided by acts of Congress; otherwise, registered tonnage would be a variable quantity, dependent upon State statutes or local usages.* " No State shall, without the Consent of Congress, lay any Duty of Tonnage." * Taxes levied, as on property, by a State, upon vessels owned by its citizens, and based upon a valuation of the same, are not prohibited. But taxes cannot be imposed " at so much per ton of the registered tonnage." ' It is not only a pro rata tax which is prohibited, but any duty on a ship, whether a fixed sum upon its whole tonnage, or a sum ascertained by comparing the amoimt of tonnage with the rate of duty." For the use of wharves, piers, and similar structures a reasonable compensation may be charged to each vessel, care being taken not to cover a violation of the foregoing prohibition. A tax for the privilege of arriving, stopping, or departing is unconstitutional.^ A tax upon a boat as an instrument of navigation, and not as a tax upon the property of a citizen of the State, is invalid." A State, as a police regulation, may impose a license tax, directly or indirectly, upon the business of keeping ferries between landings in different States. Such exaction is not a duty of tonnage if it is not graduated by the tonnage of the boats or by the number pf times they land within the State.' Whether a charge is a charge of wharfage or a duty of tonnage must be determined by the terms of the regulation which imposes it. A " duty of tonnage " is a charge for the privilege of entering, or trading or lying in, a port or harbor; " wharfage," a charge for the use of a wharf. Whether the exaction is one or the other is a question of fact and law, and not of intent." See Commerce; Wharfage.

Clifford, J.; Transportation Company v. Wheeling, 99 U. S. 284 (1878). 1 [State Tonnage Tax Cases, ante. ' The North Cape, 6 Biss. 509-15 (1876), Blodgett, J. ' Inman Steamship Co. v. Tinker, 94 U. S. 343 (1876): E. S. § 4153. * Beck 1). Phoenix Ins. Co., 16 Hun, 345 (1878). ' Constitution, Art. I, sec. 10, cl. 3. • Steamship Co. ■<]. Portwardens, 6 Wall. 35 (1867). ' Cannon v. New Orleans, 20 Wall. 577(1874); Peeteu. Morgan, 19 id. 581 (1879). « Wiggins Ferry Co. v. East St. Louis, 107 U. S. 874, 376 (1882), cases; Transportation Co. n. Wheeling, 99 id. 273 a878). •Transportation Co. v. Parkersburg, 107 U.S. 698