Cowdrey v. Vandenburgh was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of whether a contract between two parties was valid. The case involved a dispute between two parties, Cowdrey and Vandenburgh, over a contract for the sale of a piece of land. Cowdrey had agreed to sell the land to Vandenburgh for a certain sum of money, but Vandenburgh refused to pay the full amount. Cowdrey then sued Vandenburgh for breach of contract. The Supreme Court held that the contract between the two parties was valid and enforceable. The Court found that the contract was supported by consideration, meaning that both parties had given something of value in exchange for the other's promise. The Court also found that the contract was not void for lack of consideration, as Vandenburgh had argued. The Court held that the contract was binding and that Vandenburgh was liable for breach of contract. The Court's decision in Cowdrey v. Vandenburgh established that a contract between two parties is valid and enforceable if it is supported by consideration and is not void for lack of consideration. This decision has been cited in numerous subsequent cases and has become an important precedent in contract law.

In Cowdrey v. Vandenburgh, the United States Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a contract between two parties could be enforced when one party had not received any consideration for their agreement. The majority opinion held that the contract in question was unenforceable because there had been no consideration given to either party. Justice Field dissented from this decision and argued that although it may have been true that neither party provided anything of value to each other, they both still agreed to perform certain acts which constituted sufficient consideration for enforcing the contract. He further noted that if courts were allowed to invalidate contracts simply because of lack of mutuality or equality in exchange then many agreements would become void due to technicalities rather than actual issues with performance or legality.