In the case of Eneas McFaul v. James C. Ramsey, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a contract between two parties could be enforced if it had been made without consideration and in violation of an existing law. The plaintiff argued that he had entered into a verbal agreement with the defendant for the sale of certain goods at a fixed price, but that no money or other form of consideration had changed hands when they made their deal. The defendant countered by arguing that since there was no consideration given for this contract, it should not be enforceable under any circumstances due to its illegality under state law at the time. After considering both sides' arguments, the court ultimately ruled in favor of McFaul and held that even though there may have been no exchange of money or other forms of consideration involved in making their agreement, it still constituted an enforceable contract as long as all parties were aware and agreed upon its terms prior to entering into it.

In the case of Eneas McFaul v. James C. Ramsey, Justice Grier delivered a dissenting opinion that argued against the majority's decision to reverse and remand the judgment of the Circuit Court for further proceedings. He believed that there was sufficient evidence presented in court to support a finding in favor of McFaul on his claim for damages caused by Ramsey's negligence, and thus felt it unnecessary to send it back down for more proceedings. Furthermore, he noted that even if some facts were not fully established or proven at trial, this did not necessarily mean they should be disregarded entirely; instead, these issues could have been addressed through an appropriate instruction from the judge as part of their jury instructions so as to ensure justice was served without having to go through another round of litigation. Ultimately, Justice Grier concluded that sending this case back down would only result in additional costs and delays which could have otherwise been avoided had proper consideration been given during initial proceedings.