Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

“ As there is no contract, the plaintiff stands legally in the same position as if the Constitution had given express warning of what the city might do. It is left to depend upon the sense of justice that the city may show. ”

“ So strictly are private persons confined to the letter of their express grant that a contract by a city not to grant to any person or corporation the same privileges that it had given to the plaintiff was held not to preclude the city itself from building waterworks of its own. ”

“ It is impossible not to feel the force of the plaintiff's argument as a reason for interpreting the Constitution so as to avoid the result, if it might be, but it comes too late. There is no pretense that there is any express promise to private adventurers that they shall not encounter subsequent municipal competition. ”