e nature to qualify for it than to
continue in existence.[1645] Yet the cases are not always easy to
explain in relation to each other, except in light of the fact that the
Court's wider point of view has altered from time to time.[1646]

Vested Rights.--Lastly, the term "contracts" is used in the
contracts clause in its popular sense of an agreement of minds. The
clause therefore does not protect vested rights that are not referable
to such an agreement between the State and an individual, such as the
right to recovery under a judgment. The individual in question may have
a case under the Fourteenth Amendment, but not one under article I,
section 10.[1647]

Reservation of the Right to Alter and Repeal

So much for the meaning of the word "contract" when public grants are
meant. It is next in order to consider four principles or doctrines
whereby the Court has itself broken down the force of the Dartmouth
College decision in great measure in favor of State legislative power.
By the logic of the Dartmouth College decision itself the State may
reserve in a corporate charter the right to "amend, alter, and repeal"
the same, and such reservation becomes a part of the contract between
the State and the incorporators, the obligation of which is accordingly
not impaired by the exercise of the right.[1648] Later decisions
recognize that the State may reserve the right to amend, alter, and
repeal by general law, with the result of incorporating the reservation
in all charters of subsequent date.[1649] There is, however, a
difference between a reservation by a statute and one by constitutional
provision. While the former may be repealed as to a subsequent charter
by the specific terms thereof, the latter may not.[1650]

The Right to Reserve: When Limited.--Is the right which is
reserved by a State to "amend" or "alter" a charter without restriction?
When it is accompanied, as it generally is, by the right to "repeal,"
one would suppose that the answer to this question was self-evident.
None the less, there are a number of judicial dicta to the effect that
this power is not without limit, that it must be exercised reasonably
and in good faith, and that the alterations made must be consistent with
the scope and object of the grant, etc.[1651] Such utterances amount,
apparently, to little more than an anchor to windward, for while some of
the State courts have applied tests of this nature to the disallowance
of legislation, it