Mills v. Duryee was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1813. The dispute centered around whether or not an individual could be held liable for damages caused to another person's property due to negligence on their part. In this particular case, Mills had been hired as a coachman by Duryee and while driving his employer's carriage, he negligently drove it into a tree causing damage to the vehicle and its contents. The court ultimately ruled that individuals can indeed be held liable for damages caused through negligent behavior even if they are acting within the scope of their employment at the time of the incident. This ruling established an important precedent which has since been used in many other cases involving liability issues related to negligence and personal injury law.

In Mills v. Duryee, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state court had jurisdiction over an action brought by a citizen of another state against a resident of the forum state. The majority held that it did not have such jurisdiction and dismissed the case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. Justice Johnson dissented from this decision, arguing that under Article III Section 2 Clause 1 of the Constitution, which grants federal courts original jurisdiction in cases between citizens of different states, Congress has given authority to state courts to hear such cases as well. He argued that since there is no express prohibition on giving this power to states in either Article III or any other part of the Constitution, then it should be assumed they are allowed unless expressly prohibited elsewhere. Therefore he concluded that if Congress has granted authority for these types of suits in federal court then it must also grant similar powers to State Courts as well and thus his dissent would allow suit against residents from other States within their own jurisdictions