ABSTRACT
In Fletcher v. Peck, 10 US 87, involving one of the earliest cases of political corruption in the United States, the US Supreme Court held that the Georgia legislature's repeal of an earlier land grant violated the Contracts Clause of the Constitution. In 1803, Fletcher sued Peck to recover the money he had paid, claiming that Peck sold him land that he did not actually own. The case was brought in federal circuit court under a constitutional provision that permits federal courts to hear suits between citizens of different states. When the case reached the Supreme Court, the justices had to decide whether the new legislature could rescind the original land grant without violating the Contracts Clause of the Constitution. Fletcher v. Peck was the first case addressing the Contracts Clause and was the first time the Court used its power of judicial review to strike down a state law because it violated the Constitution.
