In the United States Tariff Act of 1872, Congress intended to grant tax-exempt status to specific agricultural imports. The law was meant to list 'Fruit-plants, tropical and semi-tropical for the purpose of propagation or cultivation' on the free list. However, when an unknown clerk transcribed the bill, a hyphen was mistakenly replaced with a comma, creating the phrasing 'Fruit, plants, tropical and semi-tropical...'
This subtle punctuation shift transformed a narrow exemption for fruit-producing saplings into a sweeping tax exemption for all imported tropical and semi-tropical fruits, as well as all plants. Importers quickly realized the legal loophole and sued the federal government to reclaim customs duties paid on shipments of bananas, oranges, and lemons. In 1874, the US Treasury was forced to refund over $2 million dollars—equivalent to roughly $50 million today—to shrewd fruit merchants before Congress could officially amend the punctuation error.