CUSTARD 



CUSTOMS DUTIES 



627 



minimi languages of the East Indies (1878), of 

 At'ri.M I iss-j i, iiiitl of Oceania, as well as Linguiittic 

 uinl <),-t,, itul Ksntiyn and Sketches of Anglo-Indian 



Custard, a composition of milk or cream, eggs, 

 \i .. >\\rricii'd with sugar, and flavoured according 

 t<> taste. Custards are of various kinds, such as 

 plain, liaU.-.l, lemon, orange, almond, coffee 

 cnstiinls, iV. . | 'or a plain custard, take four eggs 

 ami beat them well with two table-spoonfuls of 

 Hour and a little cold milk. Season this with 

 sugar, ground cinnamon, grated lemon-peel, and 

 pour on a pint of boiling milk, stirring all the 

 time. It may IKJ either baked or boiled. If more 

 eggs are used, the Hour may be omitted. Flavour- 

 ing ingredients may be added according to taste. 



Custard Apple, the name commonly given 

 in the \Yest Indies and other tropical countries to 



the fruits of certain >peeies of Anona (order 

 Anonaceie, allied to Itanunculacen?). Some of the 

 fruits of tltis genus are among the most delicious 

 produced in tropical countries, as the Cherimoya 

 (A. cherimolia), and even the Common Custard 

 Apple ( A. x</ H a mo* i or reticulata ), which is a native 

 or America, but is now very common throughout 

 the East Indies. It is a large, greenish, or dark- 

 brown, roundish fruit, sometimes from its size and 

 appearance called Bullock's Heart in the West 

 Indies ; the tree is of considerable size. Some 

 other American species and varieties are sometimes 

 called custard apples, and two or three which are 

 natives of Western Africa. A. muricata, the sour- 

 sop, A. (Asimina) triloba, the pappaw-tree of the 

 warmer parts of North America, and A. palustris, 

 the dog or alligator apple of the West Indies, may 

 also be mentioned. A. laurifolia grows in Florida 

 and the West Indies ; its large fruit is hardly 

 eatable. 



Ouster, GEORGE ARMSTRONG, American 

 soldier, born in Ohio in 1839, graduated at West 

 Point in 1861, and served with distinction through 

 the civil war, retiring with the rank of major- 

 general. He afterwards held various cavalry 

 commands in the west, and several times defeated 

 the hostile Indians. On 15th May 1876, with a 

 force of 1100 men, he attacked a body of Sioux, 

 afterwards found to numl>er some 9000, encamped 

 on the Little Big Horn, in Montana, and he and 

 his entire command were destroyed. See his Life 

 by Whittaker ( New York, 1878). 



Custom, in English Law. This is either general 

 or particular. For the principal doctrines relating 

 to general customs, see COMMON LAW. In order 

 to establish particular customs as law, they must 

 be proved by verdict of a jury, except the custom 

 of the city of London, which is proved by certificate 

 by the lord mayor, aldermen, and recorder. A 

 particular custom must, like a general custom, be 

 established as in force for a time whereof the 

 memory of man runneth not to the contrary. A 

 custom must have been uninterrupted and peace- 

 able, reasonable, and certain ; compulsory i.e. not 

 in the option of every person whether he will use 

 it or not and consistent with other customs. 



The customs and usages of England were adopted 

 by the United States government at its foundation 

 as far as applicable to the condition of the country, 

 and have the effect of positive law. They cannot 

 be set aside by implication, but only by statutes. 

 Customs and usages are frequently invoked in the 

 interpretation of positive law, particularly when a 

 conservative interpretation is required. A marked 

 instance of this is found in the interpretation of 

 generic words used in the federal and state consti- 

 tutions and laws, so as to deprive women citizens 

 of the right to the elective franchise in a govern- 

 ment founded upon equality of citizenship, and to 



restrict their industrial sphere. See CUSTOMS 

 DUTIES. 



Customs Duties, the portion of the revenue 

 derived from a tax on import*. In some countries, 

 customs duties are imposed on certain export* 

 also. The origin of the term is connected with the 

 long conflict between the crown and parliament as 

 to the right of taxation, although the practice it 

 signifies is as old as the Roman empire, and is even 

 to be traced among the ancient Greeks. To meet 

 the claims made by the House of Commons to the 

 exclusive right to vote all supplies, it used to be 

 maintained that there were certain duties on 

 exportation and on importation to which the 

 crown had acquired a right by custom (although it 

 is certain that customs duties existed in England 

 prior to the Norman Conquest), and after the 

 power of parliament over this branch of taxation 

 nad been fully established it retained its old name. 

 This tax, which originally was a sort of premium 

 of insurance for protection front robbery, after the 

 excise came in force was always applicable dis- 

 tinctively to goods changing place. There were 

 customs not only upon things leaving and things 

 coming to the British dominions, but also upon 

 commodities transferred from one part to another. 

 In Scotland the duty on commodities imported 

 into any town from a foreign country was called 

 the great custom ; and the duty charged by a 

 burghal corporation on commodities coming within 

 its walls from the country districts was called the 

 small or petty customs. After 1707 the Scotch 

 customs duties became the same as those of England. 

 At present the term customs duties applies in the 

 United Kingdom solely to the tax levied on com- 

 modities imported from abroad. 



The tax on imports was of old a simple percent- 

 age, familiarly known to the readers of English 

 history as 'tunnage and poundage,' from the 

 method in which it was levied on the tun of wine, 

 or the pound ad valorem of other merchandise. 

 These were subsidies granted first to the crown, and 

 then for the maintenance of the authority and 

 dignity of the state. That is to say, they were 

 forms of public revenue ; and many complications 

 arose by the additions and alterations of successive 

 governments. Out of this confusion, no doubt, 

 arose the belief that customs duties might be 

 utilised for fostering domestic industries and 

 discouraging foreign competition. When it came 

 to be held as an established principle, with regard 

 to any trade, that the customs should be adjusted 

 in such a manner as either to aid or to impede it, 

 the regulations regarding that trade alone would 

 have complexity enough for a whole code of 

 customs laws, the original object of which was mere 

 revenue. The more complex the arrangements, 

 the more open were they to the operations of the 

 smuggler or defrauder, and, consequently, regula- 

 tion had to be added to regulation, till the whole 

 became a chaos. Frequently the duties were 

 such as to act as a prohibition to importation, 

 and they always added a heavy increase to the 

 price. 'Sometimes there would be relaxations 

 m favour of the produce of British colonies, 

 and sometimes of some favoured country with 

 which Britain had a treaty of reciprocity. Then, 

 to encourage trade and manufactures, it was con- 

 sidered politic to allow goods to be imported for 

 re-exportation abroad, or to be imported for the 

 purpose of being worked up into a manufacture, 

 and there would be a difference lietween the extent 

 of encouragement granted to that manufacture if it 

 were for home consumption or for exportation. 

 The method in which such relaxation was accom- 

 plished was at first by charging the duty on the 

 importation, and afterwards repaying it by what 

 waa called a ' drawback ; ' and 'this was subse- 



