DISSENTING OPINION • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Dissenting opinion

... United States remains for any purpose a foreign country." Since Porto Rico was not a foreign country, the duties were wrongfully collected and must be returned. The remaining four justices dissented. One of them delivered a dissenting opinion in which he held that Porto Rico occupied middle ground between that of a foreign country and domestic territory. As such its status could be determined by Congress only and therefore its products were subject to duties levied ...

— The United States Since The Civil War • Charles Ramsdell Lingley