Nathan Clifford, Miller v. The State (82 U.S. 478…
“ Corporate franchises, granted to private corporations, if duly accepted by the corporators, partake of the nature of legal estates, and the grant, under such circumstances, if it be absolute in its terms, and without any condition or reservation, importing a different intent, becomes a contract within the protection of that clause of the Constitution which ordains that no State shall pass any law impairing the obligation of contracts. ”
Nathan Clifford, Miller v. The State (82 U.S. 478…
“ Charters of private corporations are regarded as executed contracts between the State and the corporators, and the rule is well settled that the legislature, if the charter does not contain any reservation or other provision modifying or limiting the nature of the contract, cannot repeal, impair, or alter such a charter against the consent or without the default of the corporation, judicially ascertained and declared. ”
Nathan Clifford, Miller v. The State (82 U.S. 478…
“ That the signers of the before-mentioned articles of association, when the articles were filed in the office of the secretary of state, became a corporation by the name specified in those articles, with all the powers and privileges granted by the general law of the State upon that subject. [5] (2.) That the powers and privileges thus conferred were granted by the State, and that the grant, as an act of incorporation, became and was an executed contract. (3.) That the powers and privileges of the charter are prescribed and defined in the general railroad law of the State. ”
