CUSTOMS, in commerce, the duties or taxes payable upon the importation or exportation of merchandise. They appear to have been originally levied to reimburse the sovereign for the expense he incurred in protecting foreign trade, and w,ere considered as taxes -upon the profits of the merchants, being imposed equally upon all sorts of goods, necessaries as well as luxuries, goods exported as well as goods imported ; but at a high er rate on the goods of aliens than on such as belonged to the merchants of the country.
The customs of England appear to have originated from the ancient claim of purveyance and pre-emption, or the right of buying by the intervention of the King's purveyors, for the use of the royal household, at an appraised valua tion, in preference to all other persons, and even without the consent of the owner ; this claim being extended to goods imported from foreign parts, was called prisage, and was levied by taking a determined part of the goods for the King's use, ate% price to be set by the King, and called the King's price, which was always lower than the current price. Wine being the principal article of fo reign produce then in request, was the chief object of this duty, and the claim was two tons from every ship laden with twenty tons or more, one to be taken before, and the other behind the mast. A small duty of two shillings for every ton of wine imported by merchant stran gers was called butlerage, from being paid to the King's chief butler.
From the charts mercatoria of Edw. I. granted in 1304, it appears that there were known and established customs or duties long before that time, both on im portation and exportation, as the duties then imposed were to be paid over and above the old customs; which, with respect to wool, the principal article of export, was six shillings and eight pence for eve ry sack, and the new duty three shillings and four pence. In the year 1354 the whole revenue arising from the customs of England was 82,426/. 188. 10d. of which the duties on the imported goods amount ed to only 580/. 6s. 8d. Nearly the whole of the export duties was levied on wools and wool-fells, and as the duties on wool thus formed one of the chief branches of the revenue of the crown, the exporta tion of this important material was en couraged, in order to augment the pro duce of the customs.
The ancient customs of England have usually been divided into three branches. 1. The duties upon wool and leather. 2. The duty upon wine,which,being imposed at so much per ton, was called a tonnage. 3. A duty upon all other goods, which, being imposed at so much in the pound of their supposed value, was called a poundage. The first branch declined when the woollen manufacture began to make some progress in this country, and has since wholly ceased, from the prohi bition of the exportation of wool. The
other two branches were usually granted by the same act of parliament, and were called the sltbsidy of tonnage and pound age. The subsidy of poundage having continued for a long period at one shilling in the pound, or at five per cent. a subsi dy became the general denomination for a custom duty at this rate per cent. The original subsidy was levied according to a book of rates established in the 12th year of Charles H. and was called the old subsidy, to distinguish it from the subsi dy of tonnage and poundage in 1698. Other subsidies were imposed at subsequent periods, differing from the old subsidy only in being laid almost wholly on goods imported, whereas that included both imports and exports.
The introduction of the funding sys tem occasioned very frequent impositions of . new and additional duties, which were generally adjusted on the princi ples of the old subsidy; that is, the value of the goods was ascertained by a book of rates, and the amount computed by the quantities of the goods, either with respect to gauge, to weight, or to tale ; the duty, therefore, was not a certain pro portion of their real value, but of an arbi trary value, agreeing perhaps with the current value at the time of imposing the duty, but which, from the natural fluctua tions of trade and manufactures, must ne cessarily be liable to many changes and alterations. There was also another mode by which duties were imposed ; this was, by a proportion to the value on goods not rated, being levied according to the actual value of the same, as sworn to by the importers. These principles being once adopted, were followed in all the new and additional duties of customs, which were imposed for payment of the interest on the various loans which were raised from time to time for the public service. In some instances the addition al duties were calculated by a per cent age on the duties previously paid ; in others a further duty was laid on a differ ent denomination of the commodity, either with respect to its value, its bulk, its weight, or its number ; and by pro ceeding repeatedly in this manner, the numerous additions made, at length, be came such a mass of confusion, as produc ed an infinity of inconvenience and delay in business, and became the subject of universal complaint among mercantile persons. From the great complexity of the whole of this branch of the revenue, arising from the multiplicity of duties, which, being appropriated to separate funds, were obliged to be kept distinct, scarcely any merchant could ascertain by calculations of his own, the duties he was to pay, but was left in a great measure at the mercy of the officers of the customs, who, from being intended as a check upon' the merchants, thus became their agents.