Counsel for Plaintiff in Error.

of the bankrupt or of his administrator, the assignee did not show such diligence as entitles him to exemption from the limitation of two years prescribed by the statute. The court below would not have erred if it had given a peremptory instruction to find for the defendant upon the issue as to limitation.

The case presents another question raised by the defendant's requests for instructions, namely, whether, in view of the peculiar nature of contracts of life insurance, any interest which the bankrupt had in these policies-assuming that he had not, at the time of his bankruptcy, effectively transferred them for the benefit of his daughters- passed to his assignee. The defendant contended in the court below, and contends here, for the negative of this proposition, and insists that if any interest passed to the assignee, it was only such as was represented by the cash value of the policies at the time of the bankruptcy. We do not find it necessary to consider these questions, as what has been said will probably result in a disposition of the whole case under the issue as to the statute of limitations.

The judgment is reversed, and the cause remanded with direc tions to grant a new trial, and for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

CLEARY v. ELLIS FOUNDRY COMPANY.

ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE

UNITED STATES FOR THE

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS.

No. 160. Argued December 13, 1889. - Decided January 6, 1890.

Avery v. Cleary, ante, 604, affirmed; but as the defendant did not prosecute a writ of error, the judgment below is affirmed on the ground that no error was committed to the plaintiff's prejudice.

THE case is stated in the opinion.

Mr. Eugene M. Johnson (with whom was Mr. Nathan Morse on the brief) for plaintiff in error.

Opinion of the Court.

Mr. Joshua D. Ball for defendant in error.

MR. JUSTICE HARLAN delivered the opinion of the court.

The statement of facts made in Avery v. Cleary, just decided, is, in the main, applicable to the present case. The additional facts necessary to be stated are these:

On the 21st of May, 1879, Ellis made a written assignment to the Ellis Foundry Company, a Massachusetts corporation, of policy 68,429, and all his rights under it, with all moneys payable or which might be payable thereon. That corporation, at the same time, gave a writing to Ellis showing that it received the above policy as collateral security for the payment of a debt due to it from Ellis of $5540.14 within one year from March 1, 1879, with interest, and of all other sums of money that he might owe that company within four years thereafter, Out of the proceeds of this policy collected by Avery as administrator of Ellis, the Foundry Company received, December 31, 1879, the sum of $5901.64, the amount which Ellis, at his death, owed that corporation.

The present action was brought September 30, 1882, to recover from the company the entire amount received by it on policy 68,429. It proceeds upon the same grounds substantially as those set forth in the other suit. The defendant denied that it had collected such proceeds, and, besides controverting the material allegations of the declaration, pleaded in bar of the action the statute of limitations of two years.

At the close of the evidence it claimed the right to go to the jury, and presented certain prayers for instructions which the court declined to give. This claim was denied, and the court ruled, as matter of law, that upon the evidence the plaintiff was entitled to recover from the defendant only the amount the insurance company would have paid the assignee in bankruptcy as the cash surrender value of the policy at the date of the filing of the petition in bankruptcy, namely, July 3, 1878. It being agreed that such value was $1200, the jury were instructed to return a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for that amount, with interest from December

Syllabus.

31, 1879, the date of the payment by Ellis' administrator to the defendant of the sum of $5901.64. To that instruction the plaintiff excepted, but did not present any prayers for instructions. A verdict was returned in conformity with the direction of the court, and judgment was entered thereon.

For the reasons given in the opinion in Avery v. Cleary, the peremptory instruction to the jury to find a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for the surrender value of policy 68,429 was erroneous. But as the defendant did not prosecute a writ of error, the judgment below must be affirmed, upon the ground that no error was committed to the prejudice of the plaintiff. His action was barred by limitation; for, there can be no doubt that this suit is between the assignee and a corporation claiming an adverse interest.

Judgment affirmed.

ROBERTSON v. EDELHOFF.

ERROR TO THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK.

No. 170. Argued December 19, 20, 1889. - Decided January 6, 1890.

Ribbons, composed of silk and cotton, in which silk is the component material of chief value, used exclusively as trimmings for ornamenting hats and bonnets, and having a commercial value only for that purpose, are liable to only 20 per cent duty, under the following provision in "Schedule N. - Sundries," in § 2502 of Title 33 of the Revised Statutes, as enacted by the act of March 3, 1883, 22 Stat. 512: "Hats, and so forth, materials for: Braids, plaits, flats, laces, trimmings, tissues, willow-sheets and squares, used for making or ornamenting hats, bonnets and hoods, composed of straw, chip, grass, palm-leaf, willow, hair, whalebone, or any other substance or material, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, twenty per centum ad valorem;" and are not liable to 50 per cent duty, under the following clause in Schedule L.Silk and Silk Goods," in the same section, Id. 510:"All goods, wares and merchandise, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, made of silk, or of which silk is the component material of chief value, fifty per centum ad valorem."

The present case is controlled by that of Hartranft v. Langfeld, 125 U. S. 128. It was proper for the Circuit Court to direct a verdict for the plaintiff.

Opinion of the Court.

THE case is stated in the opinion.

Mr. Solicitor General for plaintiff in error.

Mr. Joseph H. Choate (with whom were Mr. Henry Edwin Tremain and Mr. Mason W. Tyler on the brief) for defendants in error.

MR. JUSTICE BLATCHFORD delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action brought in the Superior Court of the city of New York, by Charles August Edelhoff and Emil Rinke against William H. Robertson, collector of the port of New York, on the 25th of March, 1884, and removed by the defendant into the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York, to recover an excess of duties paid under protest on goods entered at the custom house on the 20th of August, 1883, the duty having been paid on the same day.

The case was tried by Judge Coxe and a jury, on April 12th, 1886. The articles in dispute were ribbons, composed of silk and cotton, in which silk was the component material of chief value. There was due protest and appeal. The collector assessed a duty of 50 per cent ad valorem upon the goods, under the following clause in "Schedule L.-Silk and Silk Goods," in section 2502 of Title 33 of the Revised Statutes, as enacted by the act of March 3, 1883, 22 Stat. 510: "All goods, wares and merchandise, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, made of silk, or of which silk is the component material of chief value, fifty per centum ad valorem." The plaintiffs claimed in their protest and upon the trial that the goods were liable to only 20 per cent duty, under the following provision in "Schedule N.- Sundries," of the same title, 22 Stat. 512: "Hats, and so forth, materials for: Braids, plaits, flats, laces, trimmings, tissues, willow-sheets and squares, used for making or ornamenting hats, bonnets and hoods, composed of straw, chip, grass, palm-leaf, willow, hair, whalebone, or any other substance or material, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, twenty per centum ad valorem."

Opinion of the Court.

On the trial, the undisputed evidence was that the articles in question were used exclusively as trimmings for ornamenting hats and bonnets, and had a commercial value only for that purpose. The defendant offered no evidence on that subject in contradiction of that put in by the plaintiffs. At the close of the testimony, the defendant asked the court to direct a verdict in his favor, upon the ground that the foregoing provision in Schedule N, in regard to " Hats, and so forth, materials for," should be construed as embracing only articles made of a substance or material not elsewhere specially enumerated or provided for in the act of 1883, and articles made only of straw, chip, grass, palm-leaf, willow, hair, whalebone, or some other like substance or material; but this request was denied by the court, and the defendant excepted. The court then, at the request of the plaintiffs, directed the jury to find a verdict in their favor, for the excess of duties collected on the hat-ribbons or hat-bands, and upon certain charges, commissions and coverings, in regard to which there was no dispute; and the defendant excepted to such action of the court. The jury found a verdict accordingly for the plaintiffs, on which a judgment was entered in their favor, to review which the defendant has brought a writ of error.

That the articles in question, silk being their component material of chief value, were liable to a duty of 50 per cent ad valorem, as "goods, wares and merchandise, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act, made of silk, or of which silk is the component material of chief value,” if they were not specially enumerated or provided for in the act of 1883, is plain. The question, and the only question, therefore, is whether they come under the clause, "Hats, and so forth, materials for:" as being "trimmings," "used for making or ornamenting hats, bonnets and hoods," composed of any of the seven substances specifically named, "or any other substance or material, not specially enumerated or provided for in this act," and were thus liable to a duty of only 20 per cent ad valorem.

It is to be especially noted that the act of 1883 does not, in Schedule L, in regard to silk and silk goods, or elsewhere,