imports
Definitions from Case Law · United States Supreme Court
Definitions from Case Law
From 48 U.S. 283 - George Smith v. William Turner Health-Commissioner of the Port of New York James Norris · 1849Most cited · 410 citing opinions
men as well as things cannot, it seems to me, be denied.
How the Supreme Court has restated “imports”
Each Supreme Court definition of “imports,” sized by how often later courts cited it. “Change” is measured by wording overlap with earlier definitions — a rough signal, not a semantic judgment.
How often courts cite the cases defining “imports”
Court decisions citing the 3 opinions that defined “imports” — 691 in all, by decade. Counts are citations to the defining cases as a whole, not verified uses of the term. The dip in the most recent years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the latest years.
All 3 definitions, chronological · 1849–1964
the goods imported do not lose their character as imports, and become incorporated into the mass of property of the State, until they have passed from the control of the importer or been broken up by him from their original cases
constitutional character
the goods imported do not lose their character as imports, * * * until they have passed from the control of the importer or been broken up by him from their original cases. Whilst retaining their character as imports, a tax upon them, in any shape, is within the constitutional prohibition.
original package doctrine