Fletcher v. Peck

Virtually every member of the state legislature had been bribed by the land companies to whom the land was sold. As a result, all but one member of the legislature voted in favor of the sale. Moreover, many legislators were financially involved in the project, so when the lands were resold to third parties, they got a share of the profits.

Not surprisingly, the public was outraged at this massive example of corruption. The Act of 1795, which the legislature had passed to ratify the sale, was publicly burned and all evidence of its passage was supposedly erased from public records. Voters threw out the old legislators and elected new ones. The new legislature tried to regain the lands, offering to refund the purchase price to the land companies involved. Not surprisingly, the companies wanted to hold on to their bargains and refused to return the land.