In Morgan v. Callender, the Supreme Court of the United States heard a case involving two men from Virginia who had entered into an agreement for one to purchase land from the other. The purchaser, John Morgan, paid part of what he owed but failed to pay in full before his death. His executor then refused to make any further payments on behalf of Morgan's estate and instead sought a refund for what had already been paid. The seller, William Callender sued for breach of contract and won at trial court level; however this decision was reversed by the Supreme Court which held that since no title or deed had been transferred between parties prior to Morgan's death there could be no breach as there was nothing legally binding them together anymore. This ruling established that contracts must be fully executed with all terms fulfilled before they can be enforced in court and set precedent regarding how such cases should proceed going forward.

In Morgan v. Callender, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a state court had jurisdiction over a case involving two citizens of different states. The majority opinion held that it did not have such jurisdiction and dismissed the case. However, Justice William Johnson dissented from this decision on the grounds that Article III of the Constitution grants federal courts exclusive original jurisdiction in cases between citizens of different states only when those cases involve controversies arising out of foreign or maritime law; since this particular case involved neither foreign nor maritime law, he argued that state courts should be allowed to exercise their own concurrent jurisdiction in such matters. He further noted that Congress has never passed any legislation granting exclusive original jurisdiction to federal courts for all suits between citizens of different states regardless of subject matter and therefore concluded that allowing state courts to hear these types of cases would not violate any constitutional provisions or laws enacted by Congress.