VESTED RIGHT. A technical legal phrase denoting a present fixed interest resting in a definite person or corporation in or to a property right or franchise. It is the opposite of a pros pective or contingent interest of any nature. For the security of property interests and the general welfare, the law very jealously protects such rights, and will not permit their destruction or allow their holders to be hindered in the full enjoyment of them, except for the public good. and then only upon just compensation being made therefor. The Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution provides that no person shall be deprived of property without due process of law, but as this has been construed to he a restraint upon the Federal Government only, it became necessary to incorporate in the Fourteenth Amendment a iiroliihition against any State taking such action. These constitutional provisions make vested rights secure and leave only the difficulty of determining what may be included under that head. A right in or to real Or personal property not subject to a condition or contingency is considered as vested in the per son who enjoys it. An expectant interest is, however, sometimes confused with one which has become fixed and unconditional. For example,
the right of a husband to courtesy his wife's property is, during her lifetime, inchoate or contingent in its nature. depending upon his survivorship. Therefore, it amounts only to an expectancy during that period, and may he regu lated or even taken away by statute.
No one has a vested interest or property right in the rules of the common law as such, or the law as contained in statutes, and, therefore, the law may be changed by statute, even though the amendment may cause damage and hardship to persons who may have taken action relying upon the continuance of the existing law. For ex ample, a great business may be established and built up under a high tariff act, whicb would be rendered very unprofitable if the tariff was reduced, but the owners of such an enterprise have no constitutional right to object to an amendment of the tariff act. Thus, also, the rules of descent may be changed, as the living have no heirs, but such a change would not affect the rights of persons who inherited property upon the death of ancestors before the amendment. Consult Cooley, Constitutional Limitations: PROPERTY, and the authorities there referred to.