- import
- Verb: To bring or carry a substance or article into the country from outside. Cunard S.S. Co. v Mellon, 262 US 100, 67 L Ed 894, 43 S Ct 504, 27 ALR 1306 (intoxicating liquor.) Within the meaning of the law of customs duties, to bring an article into the country from the outside, usually but not necessarily through a custom house. Pomplaim v United States (CA5 La) 42 F2d 203, cert den 282 US 886, 75 L Ed 881, 51 S Ct 89, following Cunard S.S. Co. v Mellon, 262 US 100, 67 L Ed 894, 45 S Ct 504, 27 ALR 1306. For some purposes, to bring articles into a state from another state. 24 Am J1st Game § 18. Noun: A substance or article carried into the country from abroad; a shipment from a foreign country to the United States. Faber v United States, 221 US 649, 55 L Ed 897, 31 S Ct 659. An "imported" article is an article brought or carried into this country from abroad. A steam yacht coming into a port of the United States under her own steam is not an imported article. The Conqueror (DC NY) 49 F 99, 102. As the term is used in the tenth section of the first article of the Federal Constitution, declaring that "no state shall without the consent of Congress lay any imposts or duties on imports or exports," it refers to articles imported from foreign countries into the United States, and it does not refer to those articles which are carried from one state of the Union into a sister state. Brown v Houston, 114 US 622, 29 L Ed 257, 5 S Ct 1091. Within the meaning of section 9 of article I of the United States Constitution providing that the migration or importation of such persons as any of the states now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight, the word "migration" had exclusive reference to persons of the African race. The two words "migration" and "importation" refer to the different conditions of this race as regards freedom from slavery. When the free black man came here, he "migrated;" when the slave came, he was imported. The latter was property and could be taxed as an import. People v Compagnie Generale Transatlantique (US) 17 Otto 59, 27 L Ed 383, 2 S Ct 87.
Ballentine's law dictionary. Anderson, W.S.. 1998.