Noah Haynes Swayne

“ An executory contract is one where it is stipulated by the agreement of minds, upon a sufficient consideration, that something is to be done or not to be done by one or both the parties. Only a slight consideration is necessary. ”

“ The doctrine of the sacredness of vested rights has its root deep in the common law of England, whence so much of our own has been transplanted. Kent, then chief justice, said: It is a principle of that law, 'as old as the law itself, that a statute even of its omnipotent Parliament is not to have a retrospective effect. ”

“ Little is left for us but to apply the work of other minds. The facts are agreed by the parties, and may be briefly stated.
The Union and Planters' Bank of Memphis was duly organized under a charter granted by the Legislature of Tennessee, by two acts, bearing date respectively on the 20th of March, 1858, and the 12th of February, 1869. Since its organization, it has been doing a regular banking business. Its capital stock subscribed and paid in amounts to $675,000, divided into six thousand seven hundred and fifty shares of $100 each. ”

“ To the extent to which the defect exists among individuals, there is decay and degeneracy. As are the integral parts, so is the aggregated mass. Under a monarchy or an aristocracy, order may be upheld and rights enforced by the strong arm of power. But a republican government can have no foundation other than the virtue of its citizens. ”

“ Our view is fully sustained by the leading authorities upon the subject. We will refer to a few of them.
In The Binghampton Bridge, 3 Wall. 51, it was declared by the act of the legislature authorizing the bridge to be built that it should not be lawful to build any other bridge within two miles above or below the one so authorized. This court held the inhibition to be a covenant, and upheld and enforced the restriction against the authority conferred by a later act of the legislature authorizing a bridge to be so built. ”

“ Without them, society could not go on. Spotless faith in their fulfilment honors alike communities and individuals. Where this is wanting in the body politic, the process of descent has begun, and a lower plane will be speedily reached. ”

“ They guard, as far as is possible, against the fluctuations of human affairs. They seek to give stability to the present and certainty to the futur . They gauge the confidence of man in the truthfulness and integrity of his fellowman. ”

“ Prima facie it extends to all property, corporeal and incorporeal, and to every business by which livelihood or profit is sought to be made within their jurisdiction. When exemption is claimed, it must be shown indubitably to exist. ”

“ On their deposits. 2. On the capital employed in their business. 3. On their circulation. 4. On the notes of every person or State bank used and paid out for circulation. Rev. Stat. 673 et seq.
The States are permitted, in addition, to tax the shares of the national banks. Id. 1015.
This enumeration shows the searching and comprehensive taxation to which such institutions are subjected, where there is no protection by previous compact.
Unrestrained power to tax is power to destroy. M'Culloch v. Maryland, supra.
When this charter was granted, the State might have been silent as to taxation. ”