Nix v. Hedden

Nix v. Hedden
Supreme Court of the United States
Submitted April 24, 1892 Decided May 10, 1893
Full case name	John Nix, John W. Nix, George W. Nix, and Frank W. Nix v. Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York
Citations	149 U.S. 304 (more) 13 S. Ct. 981; 37 L. Ed. 745; 1893 U.S. LEXIS 2303
Case history
Prior	Judgment for defendant, 39 F. 109 (C.C. S.D.N.Y. 1889)
Subsequent	None
Holding
Tomatoes are "vegetables" and not "fruit" within the meaning of the Tariff Act of 1883 based on the common meaning of those words.
Court membership
Chief Justice Melville Fuller Associate Justices Stephen J. Field · John M. Harlan Horace Gray · Samuel Blatchford David J. Brewer · Henry B. Brown George Shiras Jr. · Howell E. Jackson
Case opinion
Majority	Gray, joined by unanimous
Laws applied
Tariff Act of 1883 (Mongrel Tariff)

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893), is a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States in which the Court unanimously held that tomatoes should be classified as vegetables rather than fruits for purposes of tariffs, imports and customs. Justice Horace Gray delivered the opinion of the Court in holding that the Tariff Act of 1883 used the ordinary meaning of the words "fruit" and "vegetable", instead of the technical botanical meaning.^[1]