In Grogan v. San Francisco (1861) 18 Cal. 590, in 1851, the state granted certain land to a city. (Id. at p. 612.) In 1858, a state statute was enacted which required the city to sell the land to specified purchasers in exchange for practically worthless scrip. (Id. at pp. 610-611.) The Supreme Court held the statute unconstitutional under the federal Constitution's contract clause (id. at pp. 612-614): "A legislative grant is an executed contract, and as such is within the clause of the Constitution of the United States which prohibits the States from passing any law impairing the obligation of contracts. . . . It cannot therefore be destroyed, and the estate be divested by any subsequent legislative enactment. And though a municipal corporation is the creature of the Legislature, yet when the State enters into a contract with it, the subordinate relation ceases, and that equality arises which exists between all contracting parties. And however great the control of the Legislature over the corporation, it can be exercised only in subordination to the principal which secures the inviolability of contracts." (Id. at p. 613.)