SMUGGLE - The Law Mind Legal Dictionary

SMUGGLEAuthored

The Law Mind • 887 words

Definition

To smuggle is to bring goods into or out of a country clandestinely and with intent to defraud the government of applicable customs duties, or to evade lawful prohibitions on importation or exportation. In U.S. law, the term has historically carried a specific statutory meaning: the act — or attempted act — of introducing dutiable articles into the United States without passing them through a customhouse or submitting them to revenue officers for examination, done with fraudulent intent.

Two elements define the core offense: (1) the physical act of unauthorized conveyance across a border, and (2) the mental element of intent to defraud. Mere failure to declare goods is not necessarily smuggling; the fraudulent intent distinguishes smuggling from accidental or negligent customs violations.

Modern usage has expanded the term beyond goods and duties. Contemporary federal statutes criminalize smuggling of persons (human trafficking and alien smuggling), controlled substances, weapons, and contraband of various kinds. In these contexts, the customs-evasion element gives way to evasion of legal prohibition more broadly.

Common Language

Modern common usage (Wiktionary): To import or export illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties; to bring in surreptitiously. Also, colloquially, to fondle or cuddle.

Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): To import or export secretly, contrary to law; to import or export without paying duties imposed by law. Figuratively, to convey or introduce clandestinely.

The common and legal meanings are closely aligned on the core customs-evasion sense. The legal definition adds precision that ordinary usage lacks: the requirement of specific fraudulent intent. A traveler who innocently fails to declare a purchase has not smuggled in the legal sense, even though the common meaning of the word might suggest otherwise. Researchers should not import the figurative ("convey clandestinely") sense into legal analysis.

Common Confusion

Smuggling is sometimes conflated with simple customs fraud or failure to declare. The distinction matters: smuggling, as historically defined, requires affirmative evasion of customs examination with fraudulent intent, not merely an omission or underpayment. Similarly, modern "alien smuggling" under federal immigration law operates under its own statutory framework and elements, distinct from the traditional goods-and-duties sense of the term. Researchers should identify which statutory regime governs before assuming a uniform definition.

Why It Matters in Research

The definition of smuggle is not static across time or across the corpus. The historical legal definition — drawn from 18 U.S. Stat. at Large 186 — is goods-and-duties specific and ties smuggling directly to the customhouse. Sources predating the mid-twentieth century will almost always use the term in this narrower sense. Researchers working in customs law, revenue law, or early federal criminal law should treat this as the operative definition.

The expansion of "smuggling" into human trafficking, drug trafficking, and arms contexts is a modern statutory development. When searching the corpus, a hit on "smuggle" or "smuggling" in older sources should not be read to address these modern offenses. Conversely, modern sources using "smuggling" may refer to any of several distinct statutory schemes with different elements, defenses, and penalties.

Jurisdictional variation is significant in the modern era. State law may criminalize smuggling independently of federal law, and the definitions can differ. International law — including customs treaties and multilateral conventions — adds another layer when researching cross-border commercial or immigration disputes.

The fraudulent intent element is a recurring research trap. Courts have debated whether intent to defraud must be proven separately from the act of evasion, or whether evasion is itself sufficient evidence of intent. Older cases interpreting the 19th-century statute may not transfer cleanly to modern statutory language.

Historical Dictionary Support

Black's Law Dictionary (1st and 2nd editions) are substantively identical on this term and both anchor the definition to the same statutory source: 18 U.S. Stat. at Large 186. Both editions note that "smuggle" is a technical word with a known and accepted legal meaning — a signal that courts were expected to apply the statutory definition rather than the common understanding. This is useful for researchers arguing interpretive consistency across the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Anderson's Dictionary of Law produced a corrupted entry in the source material — the text provided discusses sleeping car liability for passengers, which is plainly a misalignment in the corpus. Anderson's cannot be relied upon for this term based on available material. Researchers should verify directly.

None of the historical dictionaries address the modern expansion of "smuggling" to persons or controlled substances. This is not a deficiency in the sources — those statutory developments postdate them — but it is a gap researchers must fill from modern statutory and regulatory sources rather than from the historical dictionary shelf.

Jurisdictional Note

Federal law governs most smuggling offenses involving international borders, with primary authority in Title 18 and Title 19 of the U.S. Code. State smuggling statutes vary considerably and typically address intrastate or regional contraband contexts. International researchers should note that the fraudulent-intent requirement, standard in U.S. law, is not universal across common law and civil law jurisdictions.

SMUGGLEmain

Black's Law Dictionary • 1891

The act, with intent to de- fraud, of bringing into the United States, or, with like intent, attempting to bring into the United States, dutiable articles, without pass- ing the same, or the package containing the same, through the custom-house, or submit- ting them to the officers of the revenue for examination. 18 U. S. St. at Large, 186. "The word is a technical word, having a known and accepted meaning. It implies something illegal, and is inconsistent with an innocent intent. The idea conveyed by it is that of a secret introduction of goods, with intent to avoid payment of duties." Blatchf. 184.

SMUGGLEmain

Black's Law Dictionary (2nd Ed.) • 1910

‘The act, with intent to de fraud, of bringing into the United States, or with like intent, attempting to bring into the United States, dutiable articles, without passing the same, or the package containing the same, through the custom-house, or submitting them to the officers of the revenue for examination. 18 U. S. St. at Large, 186 (U. S. Comp. St. 1901, p. 2018). “The word is a technical word, having a known and accepted meaning. It implies something illegal, and is inconsistent with an innocent intent. The idea conveyed by it is that of a secret introduction of goods, with intent to avoid payment of duties.” U. S. v. Claflin, 18 Blatchf. 184, Fed. Cas. No. 14.798.

SMUGGLEmain

Anderson's Dictionary of Law • 1890

二 ​E ل furnish its guest a berth, but to keep a watch during the night, exclude unauthorized persons from the car, and take reasonable care to prevent theft. In case of loss from negligence the company is liable for such articles as a passenger usually carries about his person, and such sums of money as may be reasonably necessary for his traveling expenses. The invitation to make use of the bed carries with it an invitation to sleep, and an implied agreement to take reasonable care of the guest's effects while he sleeps.¹ A sleeping-car company holds itself out to the world as furnishing safe and comfortable cars, and, when it sells a ticket, it impliedly stipulates to do so. It invites passengers to pay for, and make use of, its cars for sleeping, all parties knowing that, during the greater part of the night, the passenger will be asleep, powerless to protect himself or to guard his property. He cannot, like the guest of a hotel, by locking the door, guard against danger. He has no right to take any such steps to protect himself in the sleeping-car, but, by the necessity of the case, is dependent upon the owners and officers of the car to guard him and the property he has from danger from thieves or otherwise. The law raises the duty on the part of the car company to afford him this protection. While it is not liable as a common carrier, or as an inn-holder, yet it is its clear duty to use reasonable care to guard the passengers from theft; and if through want of such care the personal effects of a passenger, such as he might reasonably carry with him, are stolen, the company is liable for it.2 A passenger is entitled to a continuous passage in such berth and on such car as his ticket calls for, or in an equally desirable berth or an equally safe, convenient, and comfortable car.3 The law will not permit a railroad company, engaged in carrying persons for hire, through any arrangement with a sleeping-car company whose cars constitute part of its train, to evade the duty of providing proper means for the safe conveyance of those whom it has agreed to convey.4 A company may refuse to sell accommodations to a person who does not have a proper railroad ticket. 1 Blum v. Southern Pullman Palace Car Co., 3 Cent. Law J. 591 (U. S. C. C. W. D. Tenn., 1876), Brown, J.; Woodruff Sleeping & Parlor Coach Co. v. Diehl, 84 Ind. 481-84 (1882), cases: s. c. IX Am. & Eng. R. Cases, 294, 301, cases; Pullman Co. v. Smith, 73 III. 360 (1874); Pullman Co. v. Gardner, 14 W. N. C. 17 (Pa., 1833); Pardee v. Ν. Y. Central Sleeping Car Co., N. Y. (1884): 1 Ry. Corp. Law J. 490. 2 Lewis v. N. Y. Central Sleeping Car Co., 143 Mass. 273 (1887), cases, Morton, C. J.; Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Pollock, 69 Tex. 120 (1887). See also Pullman Co. v. Gaylord, Super. Ct. Ky. (1884): 23 Am. Law Reg. 788; Whitney v. Pullman Co., 143 Mass. 243 (1887); 22 Cent. Law J. 364-65, 367 (1887), cases; 19 Am. Law Rev. 204-22 (1885), cases; 20 id. 159-82 (1886), cases. * Pullman Palace Car Co. v. Taylor, 65 Ind. 153 (1879). • Pennsylvania Company v. Roy, 102 U. S. 457 (1880). • Lawrence v. Pullman P. Car Co., 144 Mass. 7 (1887). The obligation of the company for injury to a person, not a passenger, who is wantonly assaulted and beaten by the porter, is not governed by the principles which regulate the liability of a common carrier for a like assault committed by a servant.1 See CARRIER, Common. The act, with intent to defraud, of bringing or attempting to bring into the United States dutiable articles without passing them, or the package containing them, through the custom-house, or submitting them to the officers of the revenue for examination.4 Implies something illegal, and is inconsistent with an innocent intent. Conveys the idea of a secret introduction of goods, with intent to avoid payment of duty. An article found secreted in baggage will be forfeited, and a penalty of treble the value imposed. In other cases the penalty is of a sum of equal or double the value. The penalty for making or attempting to make an entry of merchandise by means of a false invoice, certificate, etc., is forfeiture of the merchandise; or the value of the property may be recovered by suit. See MOIETY. If particular goods were actually smuggled or 1 Williams v. Pullman's Palace Car Co., Sup. Ct. La. (1888), cases. The plaintiff entered a car to ask to be permitted to wash his hands, and, without provocation, was beaten by the porter. 2 Anderson v. Munch, 29 Minn. 416 (1882), Mitchell, J. Scan. smug-, to creep through a hole, - Skeat. 4 [Act 22 June, 1874, § 4: 1 Sup. R. S. 77. United States v. Claflin, 13 Blatch., 184 (1875), Benedict, J.; Stockwell v. United States, 13 Wall. 546 (1871). R. S. § 2802. R. S. § 2864, cases. 8 United States v. Flax Spinning Co., 17 Blatch. 138 (1879).

SMUGGLEv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To import or export secretly, contrary to the law; to import or export without paying the duties imposed by law; as, to smuggle lace. Fig.: To convey or introduce clandestinely.

SMUGGLEv.

Websters Unabridged Dictionary (1913) • 1913

To import or export in violation of the customs laws.

smuggleverb

Wiktionary (English) • 2026

Wiktionary contributors • CC BY-SA 4.0 • via Kaikki
Extracted and formatted for display by Law Mind. Source link opens the current Wiktionary page and its contributor history; it is not a frozen copy of this extract.

To import or export, illicitly or by stealth, without paying lawful customs charges or duties | To bring in surreptitiously | To fondle or cuddle. | To thrash or be thrashed by a bear's claws, or to swipe at or be swiped at by a person's arms in a bearlike manner.

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