Dartmouth College v. Woodward - Freedom of Contracts and Private Education

The case Dartmouth College v. Woodward set the constitutional principle of inviolability of contracts in the United States. This inviolability, or sanctity, of contracts has been since then considered the basic fact. Placed at a par with freedom of religion and the due process of law, the freedom of contracts has been treated as one of the most important individual rights. One of the effects of the decision in the case Dartmouth College v. Woodward was the establishment of a network of private schools and colleges, being the most powerful and most efficient system of education in the world. A system that, being independent of state authorities, is at the same time free and pluralistic.