CUSTOMS. 
CUSTOMS, in commerce, the duties or 
taxes payable upon the importation or ex- 
portation of merchandise. They appear 
to have been originaliy levied to reimburse 
the sovereign for the expense lie incurred in 
protecting foreign trade, and were consb 
dered as taxes upon the profits of the mer- 
chants, being imposed equaliy upon alt sorts 
of goods, necessaries as well as luxuries, 
goods exported as well as goods imported ; 
but at a higher 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 pur- 
veyance and pre-emption, or the right of 
buying by the intervention of the King’s 
purveyors, fqr the use of the royal house- 
hold, at hn appraised valuation, in pre- 
ference to all other persons, and even with- 
out the consent of the owner ; this claim 
being extended to goods imported from fo- 
reign parts was called prisage, and was le- 
vied by taking a determined part of the 
goods for tlie King’s use, at a price to be 
set by the King, and called the King’s 
price, which w'as always lower than the 
Current price. Wine being the principal 
article of foreign 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 strangers was 
called butlerage, from being paid to the 
King’s chief butler. 
From the charta 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 every sack, and 
the new duty three shillings and four pence. 
In the year 1354 the whole revenue aris^ 
ing from the customs of England Was 
82,4261. 18s. lOd. of which the duties on 
the imported goods amounted to only 
5801. 6i. 8<1. Nearly the whole of the ex- 
port duties was levied on wools and wool- 
fells, and as the duties bn wool thus formed 
one of the chief branches of the revenue of 
the ciown, the exportation of this important 
material was encouraged in order to aag, 
ment the produce of the customs. 
The ancient customs of England have 
usually been divided into three branches. 
1. The duties upon wool and leather. 2. 'I'he 
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 ma- 
nufacture began to make some progress in 
this country, and has since wholly ceased 
fbom the prohibition of the exportation of 
wool. The other two branches were usually 
granted by the same act of parliament, and 
were called the subsidy of tonnage and 
poundage. The subsidy of poundage having 
continued for a long period at one shilling 
in the pound, or at five per cent, a subsidy 
became the general denomination for a 
custom duty at this rate per cent. Tlie 
original subsidy was levied according to a 
book of rates established in the 12th year of 
Charles II. and was called the old subsidy, 
to distinguish it from the subsidy of tonnage 
and poundage imposed in 1698. Other 
subsidies were imposed at subsequent pe- 
riods, ditfering from the old subsidy only in 
being laid almost wholly on goods imported, 
whereas that included botli imports and ex- 
ports. 
The introduction of the funding system 
occasioned very frequent impositions of new 
and additional duties, which were generally 
adjusted on the principles of the old subsidy ; 
that is, the value of the goods was ascer- 
tained by a book of rates, and the amount 
computed by the quantities of the goods, 
either with respect to gage, to weight, or 
to tale ; the duty, therefore, was not a cer- 
tain proportion of their real value, but of an 
arbitrary value, agreeing perhaps with the 
current value at the time of imposing the 
duty, but which, from the natural fluc- 
tuations of trade and manufactures, must ne- 
cessarily be liable to many changes and al- 
terations. 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 tlie new and additional du- 
ties 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 additional duties were calculated by a 
per centage on the. duties previously paid ; 
in others a further duty was laid on a dif- 
ferent denomination of the commodity, oi- 
