POST ENTRY

4 definitions found across Law Mind sources

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POST ENTRYAuthored
The Law Mind • 1141 words
Definition
In customs and maritime law, a post entry is a supplemental entry filed by a merchant at the custom-house after the original import entry has been made, used to account for any surplus quantity of goods discovered upon actual weighing, measuring, or gauging. Where the merchant's initial entry understated the quantity of imported goods — because the precise amount could not be determined at the time of importation — the post entry corrects that deficiency and ensures the full duties owed are properly assessed and paid. The post entry must be filed in the same form and manner as the original entry, and must be submitted before the vessel clears the port.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "Post entry" in ordinary English most naturally reads as two words describing any act of entering something after the fact — a late addition, a subsequent record. The word "post" simply signals temporal sequence. Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Webster's does not carry a discrete entry for "post entry" as a compound term. "Post" as a prefix carried the familiar meaning of "after" or "subsequent to," while "entry" referred generally to the act of recording or going into a place. The gap between common and legal meaning here is primarily one of specificity. In ordinary usage, "post entry" suggests nothing more than a belated notation. In customs law, it is a term of art with a defined procedural purpose: it is not merely a correction but a formal supplemental filing with legal consequences for duty liability, and its timeliness is governed by the vessel's clearance, not by any general deadline.
Core Elements
The requirements for a valid post entry, as reflected in historical sources, include: 1. PRIOR ORIGINAL ENTRY: An initial or "prime" entry must already have been filed at the custom-house. The post entry has no independent existence — it supplements a deficient original. 2. DISCOVERY OF SURPLUS: The occasion for a post entry arises specifically when actual weighing, measuring, or gauging reveals that the goods imported exceed the quantity declared in the original entry. 3. SAME FORM AS ORIGINAL: The post entry must be executed in the same manner as the first entry — it is not an informal correction but a parallel formal filing. 4. TIMELINESS — BEFORE CLEARANCE: The merchant retains the right to file a post entry at any time before the vessel clears port. After clearance, the right lapses. 5. PROHIBITION ON OVER-ENTRY: Historical sources uniformly caution that merchants should not over-enter — that is, should not declare more than the actual quantity — in the original entry, because over-entry creates exposure to separate customs violations. The post entry remedy is available only for understatement.
Why It Matters in Research
Post entry is a term encountered primarily in historical customs law research, particularly in materials from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries when goods were commonly weighed or measured after arrival but before vessel clearance. Researchers working in early American commercial law, British customs practice, or admiralty materials will encounter the term with some regularity. The term appears in all four major historical dictionaries in essentially identical form, suggesting it was a settled term of art rather than a contested concept. Its treatment is brief across all sources, indicating it was considered self-explanatory within the commercial law community of its era. Modern researchers should note that contemporary U.S. customs law has superseded the procedural framework described in historical sources. Under current CBP (Customs and Border Protection) practice, post-importation duty adjustments and supplemental entries are governed by detailed federal regulations that bear little formal resemblance to the merchant-driven "post entry" of the common law era. Do not assume that historical descriptions of post entry translate directly to modern customs procedure. A related trap: "entry" in customs law has an entirely different meaning from "entry" in property law. The Law Mind Property Law Encyclopedia's treatment of Right of Entry (property_5) concerns the right to enter land following a breach of condition — a wholly separate concept. Researchers who encounter "entry" in a mixed commercial-property context should confirm which branch of law controls before applying either body of doctrine.
Historical Dictionary Support
Black's Law Dictionary (both editions), Rapalje & Lawrence, and Bouvier's Law Dictionary are in close agreement on this term, and in several instances appear to share a common textual source — the definitions are nearly verbatim across all four dictionaries. This level of uniformity is itself informative: it suggests post entry was not a term that generated doctrinal dispute or variation, but was instead a stable procedural concept drawn directly from customs practice. Bouvier's is the most instructive of the four. It frames the post entry explicitly as a remedy for practical uncertainty: a merchant "is not or may not be able to calculate exactly the duties which he is liable to pay" at the moment of importation, and the post entry mechanism accommodates that commercial reality. This framing helps researchers understand the doctrinal logic — post entry is not a loophole or a grace period, but a recognition that precise measurement must await physical handling of the goods. All four sources include the caution against over-entry in the original filing, though the full text of that discussion is truncated in the corpus excerpts. This uniform editorial choice suggests that the prohibition on strategic over-entry was considered an important practical note for practitioners of the period. None of the historical sources address what happened when a merchant failed to file a post entry and the surplus was discovered by customs officials rather than declared voluntarily. That omission is notable; researchers investigating customs enforcement or penalty proceedings will need to look beyond dictionary sources.
Jurisdictional Note
Post entry as a historical customs concept was common to both British and American practice, reflecting shared origins in English customs law. American materials through the nineteenth century largely parallel British usage. Modern researchers should consult current federal customs regulations for any live practice questions, as the historical framework has been wholly replaced by statute and administrative rule.
Related Terms
Entry (customs law) — the original or prime filing that a post entry supplements Prime entry — the initial customs declaration; the document a post entry corrects Customs duty — the tax obligation that the post entry serves to complete Bill of lading — the shipping document against which entry quantities are often initially estimated Clearance (vessel) — the event that closes the window for filing a post entry Right of entry (property law) — unrelated term sharing the word "entry"; see property_5 for disambiguation Manifest — the ship's cargo declarationrelevant to understanding what was originally declared
POST ENTRYmain
Black's Law Dictionary • 1891
When goods are weighed or measured, and the merchant has got an account thereof at the custom-house, and finds his entry already made too small, he must make a post or additional entry for the surplusage, in the same manner as the first was done. As a merchant is always in time, prior to the clearing of the vessel, to make his post, he should take care not to over-enter, to avoid as well the advance as the trouble of getting back the overplus. McCul. Dict. Post executionem status lex non pa- titur possibilitatem. 3 Bulst. 108. After the execution of the estate the law suffers not a possibility.
POST ENTRYmain
Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910
When goods are weighed or measured, and the merchant has got an account thereof at the custom-house, and finds his entry already made too small, he must make a post or additional entry for the surplusage, in the same manner as the first was done. A8 a merchant is always in time, prior to the clearing of the vessel, to make his post, he should take care not to over-enter, to avoid as well the advance as
POST ENTRYmain
Rapalje & Lawrence • 1883
- When goods are weighed or measured, and the merchant has got an account thereof at the custom house, and finds his entry already made too small, he must make a post or additional entry for the surplusage, in the same manner as the first was done. As a merchant is always in time, prior to the clearing of the vessel, to make his post, he should take care not to overenter, to avoid as well the advance as the trouble of getting back the overplus.-McCull. Dict. Post executionem status lex non patitur possibilitatem (3 Bulst. 108): After the execution of the estate the law suffers not a possibility.

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