The Evansville journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1834-184?, 1844-05-02

tne pdTLeS, anu TIC JuuSihSHt A0h"
upon it.
In placing the obligation of contracts I'M
der the protection of the Constitution, its
trainers looked to the essentials of the con-
tract more than to the forms and modes OF
proceeding, by which it was to be carried in
to execution; annulling all State legislation
which impaired the obligation, it was left to
the States to prescribe and shape the RENE
dy to enforce it.
The obligation OF a contract consists in its
binding force on the party who makes it;this
depends on the law in existence where it is
made; these are necessarily referred TO in
all contracts, and form a part of them, as the
measure of the obligation to perform them by
the one party, and the right acquired by the
other. There can be no other Standard by
which to ascertain the extent of either, than
that which the terms of the contract indicate
according TO their settled legal meaning
When it becomes consummateds the law de-
fines the duty and the right, compels one
party to perform the things contracted for,
and gives the other a right to enforce the
performance by the remedies then in force.
Ifany subsequent law affects to deminish
the duty, or to impair the right, Unnecessarily
bears on the obligation of the contract in ia
vaur of one party to the injury ofthe other;
hence any law which,in its operation, amounts
to a denial or obstruction of the rights ac-
cruing by a contract, though protesting to act
only on the remedy, is directly obnoxious to
the prohibition of the Constitution.
This principle is SO fully settled in the case
of Bronson rs. Kinzie, decided at the last
term, l Hew. 81, that nothing remains TO
be added TO the reasoning of the Court, or
requires a reference to any other authority,
than what is therein referred to. 1t is how
ever not to be understood that by that, or any
former decision of this Court, all State le-
gislation on existing contracts is repugnant to
the Constitution.
at is within the undoubted power of
State Legislatures to pass recording acts, by
which the cider grantee Shall tie postponed
to a younger, if the prior deeds not record
ed within the limited time; and the power
is the same whether the deed is dated before
or after the passage of the recording act
| Tborub +bo nfract of S,ch n av, ic 70 ron
der the prior deed fraudulent and void as
against a subsequent purchaser, it is not a
law impairing the obligation of contracts:
such too is the power to pass acts of limita-
ton and their effect. Reasons of sound po-
hey have led to the general adoption oflaws
of both descriptions, and their validity can
not be questioned. The time and manner
oftheir operation, the exceptions to them,
and the acts from which the time limited
shall begin to run, gill generally depend on
the sound discretion of the Legislature, ac-
cording to the nature of the titles, the situa-
ton 0sthe country, and the emergency which
f leads to their enactment. Cases may occur
where the provisions ola law may be SO I'M
/ reasonable as to amount to the denial of a
, right, and call for the interposition of the
Court" 3 Pet. 200.
, The obligation of the contract between
the parties in this case, was 10 perform the
promises and undertakings contained therein;
the right of the plaintiff was to damage for
the breach thereof, to bring suit and obtain
5 a judgment, to take out and prosecute an ex-
%ecution against the defendant till the judg-
ment was satisfied, pursuant to the existing
laws of Illinois. These laws, giving those
rights, were as perfectly binding on the de-
PENDANT, and as much a part of the contract,
as if they had been seat forth in its stipula-
tons in the very words of the law relating to
judgments and executions. If the defendant
had made such an agreement, as to author
ize a sale OF his property which should be le-
wed on by the Sheriff, for such price as
should be bid for it at a fair public sale on
reasonable notice, it would have conferred
a right on the plaintiff which the Constitu-
ton made inviolable; and it can make no
difference, whether such right is conferred
by the terms, or law of the contract. Any
, subsequent law which denies, obstructs or
impairs this right, by supperadding a condi-
t ton that there shall be no sale for any sum
T.