Melville Fuller

“ The court conceded that the legislature could not, under the power to amend, take from corporations the right to contract, but adjudged that it could regulate that right by amendment when demanded by the public interest, though not to such an extent as to render it ineffectual, or substantially impair the object of incorporation. ”

“ Inasmuch as the right to contract is not absolute, but may be subjected to the restraints demanded by the safety and welfare of the state, we do not think that conclusion, in its application to the power to amend, can be disputed on the ground of infraction of the fourteenth amendment. ”

“ Corporations are the creations of the state, endowed with such faculties as the state bestows, and subject to such conditions as the state imposes, and, if the power to modify their charters is reserved, that reservation is a part of the contract, and no change, within the legitimate exercise of the power, can be said to impair its obligation ”