Nathaniel Russell v. John I. Clark's Executors, and Others was a case that went before the US Supreme Court in 1812. The dispute arose when Nathaniel Russell brought suit against the executors of John I. Clark for failing to pay him money owed from a contract between them both prior to Clark’s death. The executors argued that they were not liable because there had been no consideration given by Russell as part of the agreement with their deceased client, and thus it was unenforceable under common law principles at the time which required consideration on both sides of an agreement for it to be validly enforced in court proceedings. However, after careful deliberation, Chief Justice Marshall ruled in favor of Russell stating that although there may have been no actual monetary consideration exchanged between parties at the time of contracting, “the moral obligation created by promises is sufficient” and therefore should be considered legally binding even without any tangible exchange taking place beforehand or afterwards.

In the case of Nathaniel Russell v. John I. Clark's Executors, and Others, the dissenting opinion argued that a contract between two parties should be enforced as written if it is not contrary to public policy or illegal in nature. The majority opinion had ruled that an agreement made by one party was void because it did not contain certain conditions which were required under state law at the time of its formation; however, this dissent argued that such conditions should only apply when they are expressly stated in the contract itself. Furthermore, even though these conditions may have been impliedly accepted by both parties due to their knowledge of them at the time of signing, they could still be considered invalid if there was no explicit mention within the document itself. As such, this dissenting opinion concluded that contracts must always be interpreted according to their plain language and any additional requirements imposed upon them must come from either express terms or clear evidence indicating mutual assent on behalf of all involved parties before being legally binding