To this extent, the private interests, embodied in contracts, are made subservient to the interests of the public for whose benefit the State exercises its “ continuing and dominant protective power ”. (Home Bldg. & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell, 290 U. S. 398, 437, supra.) In other words, “ contracts are made subject to this exercise of the [protective] power of the State when otherwise justified”. (Marcus Brown Co. v. Feldman, 256 U. S. 170, 198; see, also, Home Bldg. & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell, 290 U. S. 398, 439, supra; Gelfert v. National City Bank, 313 U. S. 221; East New York Bank v. Hahn, 326 U. S. 230, 232.) Whether this protective power of the State be treated as “an implied condition of every contract and, as such, as much part of the contract as though it were written into it ” or as “ ' an exercise of the sovereign right of the Government to protect the . . . general welfare of the people * * * paramount to any rights under contracts between individuals ’ ” (East New York Bank v. Hahn, 326 U. S. 230, 232-233, supra), it is “ ‘ settled law ’ ” that “ ‘ the interdiction of statutes impairing the obligation of contracts does not prevent the State from exercising such powers as * * * are necessary for the general good of the public, though contracts previously entered into between individuals may thereby be affected.’ ” (Home Bldg. & Loan Assn. v. Blaisdell, 290 U. S. 398, 437, supra; Manigault v. Springs, 199 U. S. 473, 480.)
The appellants seek to overcome the thrust of these principles by pointing to this court’s decision (in 1938) in Central Sav. Bank v. City of New York (279 N. Y. 266, remittitur amd. 280 N. Y. 9, cert. den. 306 U. S. 661).