Garrison v. The City of New York was a United States Supreme Court case that addressed the issue of whether a state statute that allowed for the imprisonment of debtors was constitutional. The case was brought by a man named William Garrison, who had been arrested and imprisoned for failing to pay a debt. Garrison argued that the statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits states from depriving any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law. The Supreme Court agreed with Garrison, ruling that the statute was unconstitutional. The Court held that the statute violated the Fourteenth Amendment because it allowed for the imprisonment of debtors without providing them with any opportunity to be heard or to defend themselves. The Court also noted that the statute was overly broad and did not provide any safeguards to ensure that debtors were not being unjustly imprisoned. The Court's ruling in Garrison v. The City of New York established that states cannot imprison debtors without providing them with due process of law. This ruling has been cited in numerous subsequent cases involving the rights of debtors.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Garrison v. The City of New York, arguing that the majority's decision was contrary to established precedent and would lead to an absurd result. He argued that a municipality cannot be held liable for damages caused by its officers or agents when they are acting within their authority, as it is not responsible for any wrongful acts committed by them while performing their duties. Furthermore, he noted that if municipalities were held liable for such actions then there would be no limit on what could be recovered from them since all public officials act under some form of delegated authority. Therefore, Justice Field concluded that the city should not have been found liable in this case because it had no control over the officer’s conduct and did not authorize his action which led to plaintiff’s injury.