Question for June 3 - Is X a Y or a Z?

Nix v. Hedden, 149 U.S. 304 (1893), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court addressed whether X was classified as a Y or a Z and decided it was a Z.

The Tariff Act of March 3, 1883 required a tax to be paid on imported Z, but not Y. The case was filed as an action by John Nix, John W. Nix, George W. Nix, and Frank W. Nix against Edward L. Hedden, Collector of the Port of New York, to recover back duties paid under protest.

At the trial the plaintiffs' counsel, after reading in evidence definitions of the words 'Y' and 'Z' from Webster's Dictionary, Worcester's Dictionary, and the Imperial Dictionary, called two witnesses, who had been for 30 years in the business of selling Y and Z, and asked them, after hearing these definitions, to say whether these words had "any special meaning in trade or commerce, different from those read."

Technically, X is a Y. The court, however, unanimously ruled in favor of the defendant, that the Tariff Act used the ordinary meaning of the words "Y" and "Z" – where a X is classified as a Z – not the technical meaning.

In 2005, supporters in the New Jersey legislature cited Nix as a basis for a bill designating X as the official state Z.

Identify X, Y and Z.