Fisk v. Jefferson Police Jury, 116 U.S. 131 (1885)
U.S. Supreme Court
Fisk v. Jefferson Police Jury, 116 U.S. 131 (1885)
Fisk v. Jefferson Police Jury
Submitted November 18, 1885
Decided December 21, 1885
116 U.S. 131
Syllabus
Where a law attaches a fixed compensation to a public office during the whole term of service of a person legally filling the office and performing the duties thereof, a perfect implied obligation arises to pay for the services at the
fixed rate, to be enforced by the remedies which the laws then give, and a change in the state constitution which takes away then existing powers of taxation so as to deprive the officer of the means of collecting his compensation is within the prohibitory clause in the Constitution forbidding the passage of state laws impairing the obligation of contracts.
The prohibition of the Constitution against state laws impairing the obligation of contracts applies to implied as well as to express contracts.
The facts which make the case are stated in the opinion of the Court.