Dolan v Neligan

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1969
• Date: 01 January 1969
• Docket Number: [1962. No. 2000 P.]
• Court: Supreme Court

(S.C.)

Dolan

and

Neligan

Overpayment by importer caused by unauthorised demands of customs official - Mistake of law - Whether moneys over-paid recoverable - Statute - Interpretation - Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, ss. 25, 30, 31.

1. Sects. 30 and 31 of the Customs Consolidation Act, 1876, provide inter alia that, if any "dispute" should arise as to the proper rate of duty payable on imported goods, the importer "shall deposit" with the collector of customs the amount of the duties demanded by him, and that such amount shall be deemed to be the proper duty payable on the goods unless the importer commences an action within three months after the deposit to ascertain the duty properly payable; and that, on payment of the deposit, the collector shall deliver the goods to the importer; and that, if it be determined in such action that a duty less than the deposit was payable, the overpayment shall be returned to the importer with interest in satisfaction of all claims in respect of the importation of the goods. The plaintiff imported certain initial consignments of goods of a single description and, although he did not accept that the correct rate of import duty had been...