Freedom of contract upheld: administrative public notices cannot be read as empowering executive directions to alter private payment arrangements.
A Public Notice permitted certain importers to pay terminal handling and related port charges directly to terminal operators as an optional payment facility; such administrative clarifications cannot create regulatory authority to override statutes or private contracts. Executive communications purporting to prevent shipping lines from collecting charges beyond port-prescribed terminal handling charges were treated as lacking statutory or contractual basis and as functionally interfering with freedom of contract and rights, because the Notice only offered an optional direct-payment mechanism and did not authorize alteration of existing contractual terms. (AI Summary)