Definition
In legal usage, statuary refers to sculptural works — three-dimensional representations of human figures, animals, or other subjects — as a defined category of imported goods subject to customs duties under federal tariff law. The term appears primarily in historical customs statutes, where it designated a class of fine art imports distinct from paintings, engravings, and other decorative or manufactured goods.
Under the customs framework operative in the late nineteenth century, statuary was subject to an ad valorem duty and was defined with deliberate specificity to prevent evasion through classification arguments. The statutory definition extended to copies of antique works produced by professional sculptors or statuaries, not merely to original fine art pieces.
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Common Language
Modern common usage (Wiktionary): Of, relating to, or characteristic of statues; also used as a noun to mean a collection of statues or the art of making them.
Historical common usage (Webster's 1913): One who practices the art of making statues; the art of carving statues as representatives of real persons or things; a collection of statues collectively.
The legal meaning tracked closely to the Webster's 1913 sense — statuary as a class of sculptural objects — but added a functional, administrative layer. In customs law, the question was not artistic quality or originality in the creative sense, but whether a given object fell within the dutiable category as defined by statute, including works produced by professional practitioners even when copying antique models. The legal definition is therefore narrower and more instrumental than the common usage, serving a classification purpose rather than an aesthetic one.
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Why It Matters in Research
Researchers encountering statuary in historical legal sources should understand that the term is almost exclusively a customs law term of art, not a general fine arts classification. Its significance lies in the boundary-drawing work it performed in tariff schedules: what counted as statuary (and thus owed duty at one rate) versus what counted as a manufactured decorative object or mere merchandise (subject to different rates or treatment).
The truncated Anderson's entry signals an important research trap: the statutory definition in Revised Statutes § 2504, Schedule M was expressly extended by subsequent provisions clarifying what "statuary as used in the laws now in force" meant for importation purposes. Researchers relying only on the bare term in early sources will miss this layered statutory gloss. The full operative definition required consulting the current tariff act in force at the time of any given dispute or transaction, not merely the base Revised Statutes provision.
Jurisdictional variation is largely irrelevant here — statuary as a customs category was a matter of federal law exclusively. However, state law touching on fine arts, artists' rights, or contracts with sculptors used the term in its ordinary descriptive sense, and researchers must be careful not to import the customs-law definition into those contexts.
The term also appears at the intersection of intellectual property and customs law. Whether a copy of an antique statue qualified as statuary (and thus received favorable or standard duty treatment) versus a reproduction or manufactured article was litigated under the tariff acts. The professional-production test — requiring the work to be made by a statuary or sculptor — was the operative line.
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Historical Dictionary Support
Anderson's Dictionary of Law provides the most relevant legal treatment, and it is narrow but precise. The entry confirms two points: first, that a copy of an antique made by a modern professional artist qualifies as statuary for customs purposes; second, that the statutory definition in Revised Statutes § 2504, Schedule M was expressly amplified by subsequent tariff legislation clarifying the term's scope.
The Webster's 1913 definition is consistent with the legal usage but adds no legal precision. It confirms that statuary in ordinary late-nineteenth-century usage encompassed both the practitioner (one who makes statues) and the body of work (statues collectively), a dual meaning that the customs statutes collapsed into the latter sense — the objects, not the artist.
No major legal dictionary of the period (Black's, Bouvier's) treated statuary as a general legal term requiring independent definition, reflecting its status as a specialized term confined to customs and tariff law rather than a concept with broader doctrinal reach. Anderson's treatment is therefore the principal legal source, and its brevity accurately reflects how contained the term's legal significance was.
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Jurisdictional Note
Statuary as a legal term operated exclusively within federal customs and tariff law. State courts and legislatures used the word descriptively, not as a defined term of art. Researchers working in state court records, contracts, or municipal ordinances involving sculptural works should treat statuary as ordinary language rather than a term carrying the customs-law definition.
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