In the United States Supreme Court case of The United States v. One Package of Merchandise, Lion, Pinsard & Co., Claimants, the court was asked to decide whether a package containing merchandise imported from France had been legally seized by customs officers in New York City. The claimants argued that they were not liable for duties on the goods because they had already paid them in France and thus did not owe any additional taxes upon importation into the US. However, after examining evidence presented by both sides and considering relevant laws regarding international trade at that time, it was determined that no duty had been paid on this particular shipment when it arrived in New York City and therefore customs officials acted lawfully when seizing it. Ultimately, the court ruled against Lion et al., finding them liable for all applicable duties due on their imported goods as required under US law at that time.

In the case of The United States v. One Package of Merchandise, Lion, Pinsard and Co., Claimants, the dissenting opinion was that Congress had not intended to give a right to sue for duties on imported merchandise in this particular situation. The majority opinion held that under the Tariff Act of 1846, which imposed duties on certain goods imported into the United States from foreign countries or places subject to their jurisdiction, an action could be brought against any person who attempted to defraud or evade payment of such duty by importing merchandise without paying it. However, Justice Grier argued that this interpretation was too broad and would lead to absurd results if applied in all cases where fraud was alleged; he believed there must have been some other intent behind Congress’s decision when they passed the act. He further stated that while it may be true that fraudulent importation should be punished with forfeiture as provided by law but he did not believe it followed necessarily from this principle alone that every package containing dutiable articles should also suffer forfeiture regardless of whether fraud had occurred or not.