This Supreme Court case involved the administrator de bonis non of Thomas Hammond, George W. Hammond, and others appealing against Lorenzo Lewis who was the executor of Lawrence Lewis and acting executor of General George Washington. The appellants argued that a certain bond issued by General Washington should be paid to them as creditors in full satisfaction for their debt owed by Thomas Hammond's estate. However, the appellee contended that this bond had already been assigned to another creditor prior to its payment being demanded from him. After considering both sides' arguments, the court ultimately ruled in favor of the appellee on grounds that there was no evidence presented which could prove otherwise than what he claimed about his assignment rights over said bond before it was requested from him for payment purposes.

In the dissenting opinion of George W. Hammond, Administrator de bonis non of Thomas Hammond, Deceased, and Others v. Lorenzo Lewis, Executor of Lawrence Lewis, Deceased who was the Acting Executor of Gen. George Washington (1843), Justice McLean argued that a contract between Thomas Hammond and General Washington should be enforced despite its lack of consideration or legal formality due to their long-standing relationship as friends and business partners. He believed that it would be unjust for one party to benefit from another’s mistake in this case since both parties had acted in good faith with no intention to deceive each other or take advantage over the other's ignorance regarding formalities required by law for contracts at the time. Furthermore he argued that if such an agreement were not enforced then it could lead to “great injustice” as well as encourage dishonesty among those entering into similar agreements without proper legal formality in future cases which could have far reaching implications on commerce throughout society at large