In the case of Bergere v. United States (1897), the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a matter concerning customs duties. The plaintiff, Mr. Bergere, imported two paintings into New York from Paris and declared them to be reproductions of old masters' works which would make them duty-free under existing tariff laws at that time. However, the Customs Collector classified these as modern oil paintings subject to 15% ad valorem duty rate based on their recent creation date rather than their stylistic categorization. Bergere protested this decision and took his case to court arguing that it was not fair for him to pay a tax when he had been told by officials in France that they were exempted from such charges due to being replicas of older artworks. The Supreme Court disagreed with Bergere's argument stating that classification for customs purposes is determined by American law regardless of what foreign authorities may have said or done about an article before its importation into America. Therefore, since these paintings were recently made despite being copies of old masterpieces, they fell within the category 'modern oil painting' according to US custom laws hence liable for taxation.

In the dissenting opinion for Bergere v. United States, the justice argued that the defendant's constitutional rights were violated due to improper jury instructions. The judge instructed jurors that they could find the defendant guilty if they believed beyond a reasonable doubt that he had committed an act of forgery, even though this was not one of his formal charges. This instruction effectively allowed jurors to convict on grounds outside those presented in court and charged by grand jury indictment - a violation of Fifth Amendment protections. Furthermore, it was noted that there is no common law crime in federal jurisdiction; thus crimes must be strictly statutory and clearly defined as such before trial begins. Therefore, instructing a jury about potential guilt based on uncharged or non-statutory offenses undermines both fair trial standards and constitutional safeguards against prosecutorial overreach.