320 HARVARD LAW REVIEW.

United States courts have any special rights conferred upon them by the fact that the case relates to a contract. These courts are not the special protectors of contracts, excepting under the clause in the Constitution of the United States forbidding State legislation which implies their obligation. The ground of the present deci- sion is that the courts of the United States are charged with a spe- cial duty, in litigation between citizens of different States; that the nature of this special duty requires these courts sometimes to exer- cise a perfectly independent judgment in construing and applying the laws and constitutions of the States; and that the rule of ad- ministration for the exercise of this function, laid down by the Supreme Court of the United States in Gelpcke v, Dubuque, is a just and wholesome one. The result is that the judgment of the District Court is reversed.