contracts.

This is remarkable, not to say ominous. The Gladstonian constitution has
been drawn up by legislators who profess to profit by the experience of
America. Under the Constitution of the United States[71] no State can
pass any law 'impairing the obligation of a contract.' This provision
has kept alive throughout the Union the belief in the sacredness of
legal promises. It embodies a principle which lies at the bottom of all
progressive legislation. It gives the best guarantee which a
constitution can give against the most insidious form of legislative
unfairness; it embodies a doctrine which all legislatures are likely to
neglect and which an Irish Parliament is more likely to neglect than any
other legislature, for in Ireland there exist contracts which do not
command popular approval, and the Imperial legislation of twenty years
and more has taught the Irish people that agreements which do not
command popular approval may, without breach of good faith, be set aside
by legislative enactment. We all know further that reforms, or
innovations, are desired by thousands of Irishmen which cannot be
carried into effect unless the obligation of contracts be impaired. Why,
then, have statesmen who borrow freely from the Constitution of the
United States omitted the most salutary of its provisions from our new
constitution?

The official reply is at any rate singular; it is apparently[72] that
the section of the United States Constitution which invalidates any law
impairing the obligation of a contract has given much occupation to the
Courts of America. This answer is on the face of it futile; it urges the
proved utility of a law as a reason for its not being enacted; as well
suggest that because the criminal courts are mainly occupied with the
trial of thieves there ought to be no law against petty larceny, or that