Howland v. Blake is a United States Supreme Court case that was decided in 1878. The case involved a dispute between two parties over a piece of real estate in the state of New York. The plaintiff, Howland, claimed that he had purchased the property from the defendant, Blake, and that Blake had failed to deliver the deed to the property. Howland sought to have the court declare that he was the rightful owner of the property. The Supreme Court held that Howland was the rightful owner of the property. The Court found that Howland had provided sufficient evidence to prove that he had purchased the property from Blake. The Court also found that Blake had failed to deliver the deed to Howland, and that this failure was sufficient to establish Howland's ownership of the property. The Court also held that Howland was entitled to damages for the delay in receiving the deed. In conclusion, the Supreme Court held that Howland was the rightful owner of the property and was entitled to damages for the delay in receiving the deed. The Court's decision established that a purchaser of real estate is entitled to damages if the seller fails to deliver the deed.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Howland v. Blake, arguing that a judgment of foreclosure should not be reversed on appeal due to an alleged irregularity in the proceedings leading up to it. He argued that irregularities which do not affect the merits of a case should not be grounds for reversal and noted that there was no evidence presented at trial or on appeal showing any prejudice resulting from such irregularities. Furthermore, he argued that even if some irregularity had occurred during the proceedings, it would have been within the discretion of the court below to correct them before entering its final judgment. Thus, Justice Field concluded by asserting his belief that courts should only reverse judgments when they are clearly wrong or unjustified and this particular case did not meet those criteria.