In the case of Lucius W. Stockton and Daniel Moore v. Harriet Bishop, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a contract between two parties could be enforced when one party had not received any consideration for their part in it. The plaintiffs argued that they had entered into an agreement with Bishop whereby she would transfer her interest in certain real estate to them, but that she failed to do so without receiving anything in return. The court found that there was no consideration given by either side and thus held that the contract was unenforceable as it lacked mutuality of obligation. This decision established precedent which has been used ever since; if both sides fail to provide something of value then a contract cannot be legally binding or enforceable under law.

In the case of Lucius W. Stockton and Daniel Moore v. Harriet Bishop, the dissenting opinion was that a contract between two parties should not be voided because one party had been misled by false representations made by another party if there is no evidence to suggest that those misrepresentations were intentional or fraudulent in nature. The majority opinion held that since Bishop had been misled into signing the contract due to Stockton's false representation about his title to certain property, it should be declared voidable at her request; however, Justice Baldwin argued against this decision on grounds of public policy as well as legal precedent. He reasoned that while fraud may have occurred in this particular instance, allowing contracts such as these to be voided would create an environment where people could easily avoid their contractual obligations simply by claiming they were deceived when entering into them - even without any proof of intent or malice from either side involved in the agreement. Therefore he concluded that unless clear evidence exists showing intentionality and/or maliciousness on behalf of one party towards another during negotiations for a contract then it should remain valid despite any misstatements which may have taken place prior its execution.