Noah Haynes Swayne

“ It is competent for the States to change the form of the remedy, or to modify it otherwise, as they may see fit, provided no substantial right secured by the contract is thereby impaired. No attempt has been made to fix definitely the line between alterations of the remedy, which are to be deemed legitimate, and those which, under the form of modifying the remedy, impair substantial rights. Every case must be determined upon its own circumstances. Whenever the result last mentioned is produced the act is within the prohibition of the Constitution, and to that extent void. ”

“ Individuals may be interested in having certain powers continued in or conferred upon the city, by reason of being its creditors or otherwise; but they are political powers, to be exercised only through public officers, in which the individual can have no more a contract right than he could in the powers of any one of the three departments of the State government, or of any officer thereof. ”

“ Morris, [10] 'that political power conferred by the legislature can become a vested right, as against the government, in any individual or body of men.'
In Trustees v. Rider, [11] the Supreme Court of Connecticut held that a statute granting money to a private corporation or individual, to be acquired in futuro, and through the official action of public agents, may be repealed at any time before the acquisition and application of the money, and the grant defeated before it is fully executed. Such a grant is not a perfect obligation capable of enforcement. ”

“ The power given becomes a trust which the donor cannot annul, and which the donee is bound to execute; and neither the State nor the corporation can any more impair the obligation of the contract in this way than in any other. [41]
The laws requiring taxes to the requisite amount to be collected, in force when the bonds were issued, are still in force for all the purposes of this case. The act of 1863 is, so far as it affects these bonds, a nullity. It is the duty of the city to impose and collect the taxes in all respects as if that act had not been passed. ”

“ In the first place, there is a legislative grant of special powers, enabling the respondent, as a private company, to subscribe for stock in certain railroad companies, issue its bonds for the amount of such stock, and to provide for payment of the bonds so issued, with interest thereon, by the levy and collection of a special tax. ”

“ A statutory provision that personal property should not be sold under execution for less than two-thirds of its appraised value was adjudged, so far as it affected prior contracts, to be void, for the same reason. ”

“ The question to be determined is whether the statute, in this respect, is valid, or whether the legislature transcended its power in enacting it.
The duty which the court is called upon to perform is always one of great delicacy, and the power which it brings into activity is only to be exercised in cases entirely free from doubt.
The Constitution of the United States declares (Art. I, § 10) , that 'no State shall pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts.'
The case of Fletcher v. ”