United States v. Gulf Refining Co., 268 U.S. 542 (1925)
Please note: this case begins in mid-page. It therefore shares a citation with the last page of the previous case. If you are attempting to follow a link to the last page of 268 U.S. 536, click here.
United States v. Gulf Refining Company
No. 40
Argued April 15, 16, 1925
Decided June 1, 1925
268 U.S. 542
CERTIORARI TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE EIGHTH CIRCUIT
Syllabus
1. Under Jud.Code § 240, certiorari may be granted by this Court, at the instance of the United States, to review a judgment of the circuit court of appeals reversing a judgment of conviction in a criminal case and remanding the case to the district court for a new trial. P. 544.
2. Where a commodity shipped in interstate commerce is included in more than one tariff designation, that which is the more specific will be held applicable, and where two descriptions and tariffs are equally appropriate, the shipper is entitled to the one specifying the lower rate. P. 546.
3. Evidence reviewed and held to establish that the shipments in question were not "gasoline" but "naphtha," and insufficient to prove that they were not "unrefined naphtha" within the meaning of a railroad tariff applicable. P. 546.
4. A lower rate properly may be applied to a product shipped in an unfinished condition in the course of manufacture than that applicable to it when finished. P. 548.
5. In a prosecution of a corporation under the Elkins Act on the ground that it received concessions through shipping its petroleum product as "unrefined naphtha," and not as "gasoline," under a tariff allowing a lower rate for the one than for the other, evidence of other and contemporaneous shipments of the same product to other places as "gasoline" under other tariffs offering no rate on "unrefined naphtha" had no tendency to prove that the product was not "unrefined naphtha" within the meaning of the tariff in question. P. 549.
6. Nor, in such case, did description of the shipments as "gasoline," in compliance with regulations made by the Interstate Commerce Commission under the Transportation of Explosives Act requiring such and similar products to be shipped as "gasoline, casinghead gasoline or casinghead naphtha," have a tendency to prove, or amount to an admission by the defendant, that the gasoline rate was applicable or that the shipments were not "unrefined naphtha" within the meaning of the tariff, since the purpose of those regulations was to require a disclosure of the character of the shipments having regard not to rates, but to the dangers to be guarded against. P. 550.
284 F. 90 affirmed.
Certiorari to a judgment of the Circuit Court of Appeals reversing a conviction under the Elkins Act and remanding the case with directions to grant a new trial.