'Upon the whole the law of New Hampshire is, in my judgment, valid. For although the gin was an import from another State, and Congress had clearly the power to regulate such importation; yet as it had not done so, the traffic may be regulated by the State as _ as it is landed in its territory.'
Now it is certain that if the gin was an 'import' within the meaning of the prohibition, the question could in no wise be affected by the action or non-action of Congress, and his affirmance of the judgment was only possible on the ground that he held it not to be an 'import.'
This question has been frequently before the Supreme Courts of the States, and with the exception of the decision in Louisiana, they have uniformly held the view here presented.
The case from Louisiana is rested solely upon the authority of Almy v. California. The opinion in this case was delivered by the Chief Justice.
It is true that the record showed that the bill of lading taxed by California was for gold shipped to New York; but in the argument of the case no reference is made to the question now discussed, neither in the opinion is there any reference to it, nor to the decision in the License case. On the contrary, all the illustrations used in the opinion refer to the case of foreign commerce; and whether goods shipped from one State to another were to be regarded as 'exports' within the prohibition is not touched upon. This case can therefore have no influence in deciding the present controversy.
But this is not a tax on 'imports' in any sense of the term. A tax on the proceeds of sale is in the nature of a tax on income, or on occupation measured by income, and that a portion of such income may be derived from imported goods can make no difference in testing its validity.
Mr. Justice MILLER delivered the opinion of the court.
The case was heard in the courts of the State of Alabama upon an agreed statement of facts, and that statement fully raises the question whether merchandise brought from other States and sold, under the circumstances stated, comes within the prohibition of the Federal Constitution, that no State shall, without the consent of Congress, levy any imposts or duties on imports or exports. And it is claimed that it also brings the case within the principles laid down by this court in Brown v. Maryland.
That decision has been recognized for over forty years as governing the action of this court in the same class of cases, and its reasoning has been often cited and received with approbation in others to which it was applicable. We do not now propose to question its authority or to depart from its principles.
The tax of the State of Maryland, which was the subject of controversy in that case, was limited by its terms to importers of foreign articles or commodities, and the proposition that we are now to consider is whether the provision of the Constitution to which we have referred extends, in its true meaning and intent, to articles brought from one State of the Union into another.
The subject of the relative rights and powers of the Federal and State governments in regard to taxation, always delicate, has acquired an importance by reason of the increased public burdens growing out of the recent war, which demands of all who may be called in the discharge of public duty to decide upon any of its various phases, that it shall be done with great care and deliberation. Happily for us, much the larger share of these responsibilities rests with the legislative departments of the State and Federal governments. But when, under the pressure of a taxation necessarily heavy, and in many cases new in its character, the parties affected by it resort to the courts to ascertain whether their individual rights have been infringed by legislation, and assert rights supposed to be guaranteed by the Federal Constitution, they, in every such case properly brought before us, devolve upon this court an obligation to decide the question raised from which there is no escape.
The words impost, imports, and exports are frequently used in the Constitution. They have a necessary correlation, and when we have a clear idea of what either word means in any particular connection in which it may be found, we have one of the most satisfactory tests of its definition in other parts of the same instrument.