Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 5.djvu/745

 MYBR8 V. CALLAGHAN. 733 �copyright; but he mayhave to the head-notee and statements of each case, and of the arguments of counsel. These head- notes and statements which have been made are in themselves an abridgment : the one of the opinions of the court, consist- ing of the principles of law decided ; and the other, an abstract of the facts and of the arguments. �It should also be stated that the volumes of the defendants, as edited by those employed by them, are very much con- densed, as compared with Mr. Freeman's reports, and yet the paging of the volumes is substantially the same throughout, 80 that the cases in the corresponding volumes appear on the same page. The list of cases which precedes each report is the same. The defendants Ewell and Denslow, who were employed by the other defendants to annotate these decisions or reports, both state upon ,examination that their work was independent of that of Mr. Freeman ; but it appears from the evidence that ail the volumes of Mr. Freeman were used in thus editing or annotating; and although it may have been their intention to make an independent work, it is apparent, from a comparison of the Freeman volumes and those of the defendants, that the former were used throughout by the edit- ors employed by the defendants. It is true that in each vol- ume, perhaps in the majority of cases, there is the appearance of independent labor performed by them, without regard to the volumes of Mr. Freeman ; but yet, in every volume, it is also apparent that Mr. Freeman's volumes were used; in some instances words and sentences copied without change ; in others, changea only in form ; and the conclusion is irre- sistible that, for a large portion of the work performed in behalf of the defendants, the editors did not resort to original sources of information, but obtained that information from the volumes of Mr. Freeman. TJndoubtedly it was compe- tent for an editor to take the opinions of the supreme court, and possibly from the volumes of Mr. Freeman, and make an independent work ; but it is always attended with great risk for a person to sit down, and, with the copyright of a volume of law reports bef ore him, undertàke to make an independent report of a case. It is not difficult to do this, going to the ����