Election or appointment to a public office does not create a contract between the State and the one so appointed.7

Marriage, though in some respects properly describable as a contract, is not one the obligation of which is protected from impairment by the State;

In the Dartmouth College case8 Chief Justice Marshall declares: "The provision of the Constitution never has been understood to embrace other contracts than those which respect property or some object of value, and confer rights which may be asserted in a court of justice. It never has been understood to restrict the right of the legislature to legislate on the subject of divorce." In Maynard v. Hill9 this doctrine is judicially affirmed, the court saying, marriage "is Something more than a mere contract. The consent of the parties is of course essential to its existence, but when the contract to marry is executed by the marriage, a relation between the parties is created which they cannot change. Other contracts may be modified, restricted, or enlarged, or entirely released upon the consent of the parties. Not so with marriage. The relation once formed, the law steps in and holds the parties to various obligations and liabilities."

6 Chapter LIV (The Suability Of States. 611. A Sovereign State May Not Be Sued Without Its Consent).

7 See Section 82 and especially the case of Butler v. Pennsylvania, 10 How.

402; 13 L. ed. 472.

8 4 Wh. 518: 4 L. ed. 629.

A license granted by a State, or by one of its political subdivisions, is not a contract within the meaning of the prohibition. It is nothing more than the grant of a privilege which so far as the federal prohibition regarding the impairment of the obligation of contracts is concerned may be revoked at any time at the will of the grantor, or additional conditions upon its enjoyment imposed. This principle is so well settled that a citation of authorities is scarcely needed. The only difficulty lies in determining in specific cases whether the grant of authority by the State is in the nature of a license or of a franchise, which is to be construed as a contract. However, the presumption is always against the existence of a contract. "A contract binding the State is only created by clear language and not to be extended by implication beyond the terms of the statute." 10