Hoadley's Administrators v. San Francisco was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of whether a municipality could be held liable for damages caused by a defective street. The case arose when the plaintiff, the administrators of the estate of a deceased man, sued the City of San Francisco for damages caused by a defective street. The plaintiff argued that the city was liable for the damages because it had a duty to maintain the street in a safe condition. The Supreme Court held that the city was not liable for the damages because it had no duty to maintain the street in a safe condition. The Court reasoned that the city had no control over the condition of the street and that it was not responsible for the condition of the street. The Court also noted that the city had no duty to inspect the street and that it was not liable for any damages caused by the defective street. The Court's decision in this case established that municipalities are not liable for damages caused by defective streets unless they have a duty to maintain the street in a safe condition. This decision has been cited in numerous cases since then and has been used to determine the liability of municipalities for damages caused by defective streets.

In Hoadley's Administrators v. San Francisco, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a city could be held liable for damages caused by its negligence in failing to keep a street safe and passable. The majority opinion found that the city was not liable because it had no duty to maintain streets beyond what is necessary for public safety and convenience. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision on the grounds that cities should have an obligation to use reasonable care when maintaining their streets so as not to cause injury or damage. He argued that since cities are responsible for providing services such as police protection and firefighting, they should also bear responsibility if those services fail due to inadequate maintenance of roads or sidewalks. Furthermore, he noted that citizens pay taxes which support these municipal functions; therefore they deserve some form of compensation if their property is damaged due to negligent upkeep of public areas by local governments.