Edward Livingston's Executrix, Appellant v. Benjamin Story was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1837. The dispute centered around whether or not a contract between Edward Livingston and Benjamin Story had been breached. At issue was an agreement made between the two men that stated if Story paid off certain debts of Livingston’s, he would receive all of his property as payment for doing so. When this did not happen, Livingstone’s executrix sued to recover her late husband’s property from Story on grounds that he failed to fulfill his end of the bargain and thus breached their contract. In its ruling, the court found in favor of Livingstone's executrix and ordered that she be given possession over all properties belonging to her late husband which were held by Story at the time when they entered into their agreement with each other.

In Edward Livingston's Executrix v. Benjamin Story, the Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a state court had jurisdiction to hear a case involving an executor of an estate from another state. The majority opinion held that the lower court did not have jurisdiction over this matter as it involved citizens of different states and thus should be heard in federal courts under diversity jurisdiction. However, Justice McLean dissented on this ruling arguing that since there were no constitutional provisions or laws preventing such cases from being heard in state courts then they should be allowed to do so. He argued that if Congress wanted these types of cases to only be heard by federal courts then they would have passed legislation making it so but since they hadn't done so yet, he believed allowing them to proceed through the existing system was appropriate and necessary for justice to prevail.