by the obligation
of contracts clause.[1701] The right of a State to abolish imprisonment
for debt was early asserted.[1702] Again the right of a State to shorten
the time for the bringing of actions has been affirmed even as to
existing causes of action, but with the proviso added that a reasonable
time must be left for the bringing of such actions.[1703] On the other
hand, a statute which withdrew the judicial power to enforce
satisfaction of a certain class of judgments by mandamus was held
invalid.[1704] In the words of the Court: "Every case must be determined
upon its own circumstances;"[1705] and it later added: "In all such
cases the question becomes, * * *, one of reasonableness, and of that
the legislature is primarily the judge."[1706]

The Municipal Bond Cases.--There is one class of cases
resulting from the doctrine that the law of remedy constitutes a part of
the obligation of a contract to which a special word is due. This
comprises cases in which the contracts involved were municipal bonds.
While a city is from one point of view but an emanation from the
government's sovereignty and an agent thereof, when it borrows money it
is held to be acting in a corporate or private capacity, and so to be
suable on its contracts. Furthermore, as was held in the leading case of
Von Hoffman _v._ Quincy,[1707] "where a State has authorized a municipal
corporation to contract and to exercise the power of local taxation to
the extent necessary to meet its engagements, the power thus given
cannot be withdrawn until the contract is satisfied." In this case the
Court issued a mandamus compelling the city officials to levy taxes for
the satisfaction of a judgment on its bonds in accordance with the law
as it stood when the bonds were issued.[1708] Nor may a State by
dividing an indebted municipality among others enable it to escape its
obligations. In such a case the debt follows the territory, and the duty
of assessing and collecting taxes to satisfy it devolves upon the
succeeding corporations and their officers.[1709] But where a municipal
organization has ceased practically to exist through the vacation of its
offices, and the government's function is exercised once more by the
State directly, the Court has thus far found itself powerless to
frustrate a program of repudiation.[1710] However, there is no reason
why the State should enact the role of _particeps criminis_ in an
attempt to relieve its municipalities of the o