43. _See
also_ his words in Satterlee _v._ Matthewson, 2 Pet. 380, 686 (1829);
and those of the North Carolina Supreme Court in Barnes _v._ Barnes, 8
Jones L. 53 (N.C.) 366 (1861), quoted in Thomas Henry Calvert. The
Constitution and the Courts, I, 948 (Northport, L.I., 1924). In both
these opinions it is asseverated that the contracts clause has been made
to do the work of "fundamental principles."

[1614] 7 Cr. 164 (1812). The exemption from taxation which was involved
in this case was held in 1886 to have lapsed through the acquiescence
for sixty years of the owners of the lands in the imposition of taxes
upon these. Given _v._ Wright, 117 U.S. 648 (1886).

[1615] Dartmouth College _v._ Woodward, 4 Wheat. 518 (1819).

[1616] It was not until well along in the eighteenth century that the
first American business corporation was created: "This was the New
London Society United for Trade and Commerce, which was chartered in
Connecticut in 1732. It had, however, an early demise. Following this
was a second Connecticut charter, namely, for building 'Union Wharf,' on
'Long Wharf,' at New Haven. A similar company, 'The Proprietors of
Boston Pier,' or 'The Long Wharf in the Town of Boston in New England,'
was chartered by the Massachusetts General Court in 1772. In 1768 the
Pennsylvania Assembly incorporated 'The Philadelphia Contributionship
for the Insuring of Houses from Loss by Fire.' Alone of the colonial
business corporations it has had a continuous existence to the present
day.

"Apparently the only other business corporations of the colonies were
companies for supplying water. One was incorporated in Massachusetts in
1652, and three in Rhode Island in 1772 and 1773. Alongside of these
corporations, and, indeed, preceding them, were a large number of
unincorporated associations, partnerships, societies, groups of
'undertakers,' 'companies,' formed for a great variety of business
purposes. In the eye of the law all of them were probably mere
partnerships or tenancies in common. Whaling and fishing companies,
so-called, were numerous. There were a number of mining companies,
chiefly for producing iron or copper. There were some manufacturing
companies, but they were not numerous. Banking institutions were
represented notably by the 'Bank of Credit Lumbard,' promoted in Boston
by John Blackwell and authorized by the General Court in 1686, and by
the 'Land Bank or Manufacturing Scheme' in the same colony in 1739-41.