In the case of James Atkins Appellant vs. N. and J. Dick and Company, Appellees, Atkins brought a suit against the company for breach of contract after they failed to pay him for goods he had supplied them with as per their agreement. The lower court found in favor of the company on grounds that there was no written evidence or witnesses to prove that an agreement between both parties existed in the first place; however, Atkins appealed this decision claiming that verbal agreements were just as binding under common law principles at the time. Ultimately, it was decided by Supreme Court justices that verbal contracts are indeed valid under common law principles and thus overturned the ruling from below awarding damages to Atkins accordingly due to his successful appeal process.

In the case of James Atkins Appellant vs. N. and J. Dick and Company, Appellees, Justice McLean delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the Court should have found for the appellant on his claim against appellee’s for breach of contract. The appellant had purchased goods from appellees with an agreement to pay at a later date; however, when payment was due, they refused to accept it unless additional interest was paid as well. Justice McLean believed that this constituted an unreasonable demand by appellees since there were no stipulations regarding interest in their original agreement with the appellant nor did any law exist requiring such payment at that time or place where it occurred. He further noted that even if there had been some legal authority allowing them to charge interest under those circumstances then they still could not refuse acceptance of full payment without first obtaining judgment from a court authorizing them to do so - something which they failed to do here before refusing payment from Mr Atkins thus making their actions unlawful and unjustified according to him