Providence Bank v. Billings 4 Peters 514 (1830)
PROVIDENCE BANK v. BILLINGS 4 Peters 514 (1830)
This case anticipated the doctrine of the charles river bridge co. v. warren bridge co. (1837) case and limited the doctrine of tax immunity established by new jersey v. wilson (1812). The Court here, through Chief Justice john marshall, established the principle that a corporate charter should not be construed to vest more rights than are found in its express provisions. A state taxed a bank for the first time long after chartering it. The bank contended that its charter implied a tax immunity, because a state power to tax the bank could destroy it, contrary to its charter. The Court sustained the tax against the contract clause argument, reasoning that the state had made no express contract to relinquish its power to tax and that the relinquishment of that power "is never to be assumed." Chartered privileges "must be expressed … or they do not exist."
Leonard W. Levy
(1986)