H. Grant Heaton v. United States

Appellant was convicted under an indictment charging that on December 2, 1959, in San Francisco, California, he willfully and knowingly imported merchandise “the country of origin of which was China (other than Formosa) to-wit: 23 art objects of a value of $23,925.00, without such dealings having been specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury * * * in violation of Section 5(b) of Title 50 App. United States Code, (Trading with The Enemy Act) 31 C.F.R., Section 500.204.”

Section 5(b) of the Trading with the Enemy Act, 50 U.S.C.A.App. § 5(b) (1946), permits the President or his designee to prohibit the importation of “any property in which any foreign country or a national thereof has any interest.” The President is authorized to act “under such rules and regulations as he may prescribe, by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise,” and the statute makes it a crime to willfully violate the provisions of “any license, order, rule or regulation issued thereunder.”

The President delegated his authority under section 5(b) to the Secretary of the Treasury by Executive Order No. 9193, 7 Fed.Reg. 5205 (1942), and authorized the Secretary “to prescribe from time to…