Under the Tariff Act of 1883, imported vegetables were subject to a 10 percent tax, while imported fruits were completely exempt. John Nix, founder of a major produce firm, sued Edward Hedden, the collector of the Port of New York, to recover duties paid on imported tomatoes. Nix argued that because tomatoes develop from the ovary of a flowering plant and contain seeds, they are botanically fruits and should enter the country duty-free.
Justice Horace Gray delivered the unanimous opinion of the Court, relying on common parlance rather than scientific taxonomy. The Court acknowledged that while tomatoes are botanically the fruit of a vine, they are customarily grown in kitchen gardens, consumed during the main course of a meal rather than as dessert, and used similarly to potatoes, carrots, and cabbages. Therefore, in trade and popular usage, tomatoes function as vegetables.
The legal classification meant importers continued paying tariffs on tomatoes, establishing a long-standing precedent that everyday commercial definitions can supersede scientific facts in legislative contexts.