912
Breyer, J., concurring
language or the circumstances indicate the contrary" (emphasis added)).
The Court has often said, as a general matter, that the "rights and duties" contained in a Government contract "are governed generally by the law applicable to contracts between private individuals." Lynch v. United States, 292 U. S. 571, 579 (1934); see Perry v. United States, 294 U. S. 330, 352 (1935) (same); Sinking Fund Cases, 99 U. S. 700, 719 (1879) ("The United States are as much bound by their contracts as are individuals. If they repudiate their obligations, it is as much repudiation, with all the wrong and reproach that term implies, as it would be if the repudiator had been a State or a municipality or a citizen"); United States v. Klein, 13 Wall. 128, 144 (1872) (same); United States v. Gibbons, 109 U. S. 200, 203-204 (1883) (where contract language "susceptible of two meanings," Government's broader obligation was "sufficiently plain" from "the circumstances attending the transaction"); see also, e. g., Russell v. Sebastian, 233 U. S. 195, 205 (1914) (public grants to be given a "fair and reasonable" interpretation that gives effect to what it "satisfactorily appears" the government intended to convey).
The Court has also indicated that similar principles apply in certain cases where courts have had to determine whether or not a government seller is liable involving contracts resembling the ones before us. In Lynch, supra, for example, the Court held that the Federal Government must compensate holders of "war risk insurance" contracts, the promises of which it had abrogated through postcontract legislation. In the "gold clause" case, Perry, supra, the Court held that subsequent legislation could not abrogate a Government bond's promises to pay principal and interest in gold. In neither case did the Court suggest that an "unmistakable" promise, beyond that discernible using ordinary principles of contract interpretation, was necessary before liability could be imposed on the Government.
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