Clagett vs. Kilbourne was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of whether or not an individual could be held liable for damages caused by their negligence in failing to properly secure a horse and wagon they had rented from another party. The court ruled that, under certain circumstances, such liability could exist if it was determined that the renter had failed to exercise reasonable care in securing the vehicle after renting it. In this particular case, Clagett argued he should not have been held responsible because he did not own the horse and wagon but rather only leased them from Kilbourne; however, due to his failure to take proper precautions when leaving them unattended on public property (such as tying up both horses), he was found liable for any damage done while unsecured. Ultimately, this ruling established important legal precedent regarding personal responsibility when leasing vehicles or other items from others.

In Clagett v. Kilbourne, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a contract between two parties that had been made in Maryland and then moved to Ohio could be enforced under Ohio law. The majority opinion held that it could not because the contract violated public policy in both states. However, Justice Grier dissented from this decision on the grounds that there was no evidence of any violation of public policy in either state and therefore the contract should have been enforceable under Ohio law. He argued further that if one party were allowed to break their contractual obligations without consequence simply because they had changed locations since entering into it, then contracts would become meaningless as people would be able to avoid them by moving across state lines or changing jurisdictions at will. Therefore he concluded that such an interpretation of laws governing contracts would create more problems than it solved and thus should not be adopted by courts when deciding cases involving interstate agreements