There has grown up in the minds of certain groups in this country the 
notion that because a man or corporation has made a profit out of the 
public for a number of years, the government and the courts are charged 
with the duty of guaranteeing such profit in the future, even in the 
face of changing circumstances and contrary to public interest. This 
strange doctrine is not supported by statute or common law. Neither 
individuals nor corporations have any right to come into court and ask 
that the clock of history be stopped, or turned back.

Robert A. Heinlein, Life-Line (1939)