Horbach v. Hill was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1884. The dispute arose when Horbach, an Illinois resident, purchased land from Hill and his wife in Iowa. After making payments on the property for several years, Horbach discovered that it had been sold to another party prior to him purchasing it from Hill and his wife. He then sued them for fraudulently misrepresenting their title of ownership over the land he had bought from them. The Supreme Court held that while there was no evidence of actual fraud or deceit on behalf of Hills’s actions, they were still liable due to their failure to disclose material facts regarding their lack of title over the property which would have affected Horbach's decision-making process when buying it from them; thus breaching a duty owed by sellers towards purchasers under common law principles at that time period.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Horbach v. Hill, arguing that the majority had misapplied the law and failed to consider relevant evidence. He argued that a contract between two parties should be enforced as written unless there is clear proof of fraud or mistake, which was not present in this case. The defendant had agreed to pay $2,000 for certain real estate but later refused to do so after learning of an outstanding lien on it; however, Justice Field noted that such liens were common knowledge at the time and thus could not have been used as grounds for rescission of the contract. Furthermore, he argued that even if such information was unknown by either party when they entered into their agreement it would still be binding since both sides received something valuable from it: plaintiff received his money while defendant obtained title to land free from any encumbrance other than what she already knew about prior to entering into her agreement with plaintiff. Therefore, Justice Field concluded that plaintiff's suit should have been upheld and damages awarded accordingly