The Late Chief Justice Roger B. Taney. 29 



cellent because it involves a voluntary restraint upon the 

 natural ambition and love of power incident to men and 

 courts in all ages, and because a love of power indulged in 

 this branch of the government must work harm in the 

 action of the others, and so destroy the equilibrium of the 

 whole. To appreciate the obligations of his office, a judge 

 of this court must be a statesman, he must comprehend the 

 relation in which the states stand to each other, and to the 

 Union; and he must also, in the administration of justice 

 between man and man, mingle or interpret the rules of 

 law with good sense and sound reason. 



I shall not dwell upon, or even enumerate the import- 

 ant public questious that came before the court while 

 Judge Taney held a seat upon the bench. They were met 

 as they arose, with candor and fairness. 



But there is one novel case, of no sort of public interest, 

 tried before him at the circuit in Baltimore, which I must 

 mention. It involved a question of copyright. Reed of 

 Boston had copy-righted the air to the song known as the 

 Old Arm Chair ; and as the piece was popular, Carusi 

 of Baltimore adapted the words to a similar air, and was 

 selling the song in this, its new form ; and the action was 

 brought by Reed for an infringement of his copyright. 

 The question for trial was one of fact ; viz. whether the 

 defendant's new air was really a new and original compo- 

 sition, or a mere evasive imitation of the old one ? It was 

 a question relating to the fine art of music, and it could 

 only be determined by experts. So witness after witness 

 was called on the question, and their testimony, like that 

 of their fellows everywhere, was not very harmonious ; 

 finally the plaintiff's counsel proposed that Mr. John Cole, 

 a professional singer, should be sworn and required to siug 

 the two songs to the jury, so that they might judge whether 

 the two airs were similar or not. After a long debate the 



