Definition
An official appointed to conduct a second or revised appraisement of imported goods at a customhouse when the original appraisal is disputed or otherwise subject to review. The reappraiser's valuation determines the dutiable value of the goods for customs purposes and resolves disagreements between importers and initial appraisers over the declared or assessed value of merchandise.
Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): "One who reappraises." General-purpose agent noun; can refer to any person who conducts a second valuation of anything.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): Not separately defined; understood as the agent noun of "reappraise," meaning to appraise again.
The common usage is simply descriptive and carries no procedural weight. The legal term, by contrast, refers to a defined official role within the customs administration framework — a person formally appointed under statutory authority to conduct a second appraisement with binding effect on the assessment of import duties. The general word suggests informality; the legal term implies a specific appointment, jurisdiction, and legal consequence.
Why It Matters in Research
This term belongs almost entirely to the customs and revenue law context of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Researchers working in that period will encounter "reappraiser" as part of the administrative machinery governing tariff disputes under successive federal revenue acts.
The key research trap is conflating the reappraiser with other customs officers — particularly the appraiser and the general appraiser. These were distinct positions with distinct functions under federal customs statutes. The appraiser made the initial valuation; the reappraiser reviewed disputed valuations; the general appraiser (and, later, the Board of General Appraisers) handled further appeals. Mixing up these roles can lead to misreading the procedural posture of a historical customs dispute.
Corpus researchers should note that the relevance of this specific title fades as Congress reorganized the customs appraisement process during the twentieth century. The Customs Administrative Act of 1890 and subsequent tariff legislation restructured who conducted reappraisements and how appeals were channeled, so the term's meaning in a source from 1870 may not map cleanly onto its meaning in a source from 1910. Always check the statutory context for the period in question.
The term also appears in probate and property contexts as a generic descriptor (a person appointed to reappraise an estate or real property), but this usage is secondary and less technically defined. Black's both editions anchor the primary legal definition firmly in customs law.
Historical Dictionary Support
Both editions of Black's Law Dictionary give identical substantive definitions, differing only in a minor typographical variation ("revalua-tion" versus "revaluation"). Neither edition elaborates on the statutory basis for the appointment, the procedures governing the reappraisement, or the distinction between a reappraiser and a general appraiser. The definitions are functional minimums — sufficient to identify the term but not to place it in its full administrative context.
What the historical dictionaries do not address: the appeal rights of importers following a reappraisement, the evidentiary standards applied, or the transition away from individualized reappraisers toward the Board of General Appraisers under late-nineteenth-century tariff reform. Researchers relying solely on the dictionary definitions will miss the procedural significance of the role.
Jurisdictional Note
The reappraiser as a formal legal officer is a creature of federal law. Customs administration in the United States has always been a federal function; there is no meaningful state-law analog in the customs sense. The term may appear in state probate or tax contexts with a broader, non-technical meaning, but that usage is distinct from the customs law definition.