Customs Custodian Liability

A Non Obstante Clause That Bites: Supreme Court Upholds Customs Duty on Pilfered Goods Against a Statutory Port Trust

A port trust argued that its custody of imported cargo came from its own constituting statute, so the customs authorities had no power to notify it as a duty-bearing custodian. The Supreme Court draws a careful line between a saving clause and a non obstante clause to reject that argument — while denying the department any actual recovery in the case before it.