Packet Company v. Sickles was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1866. The case involved a dispute between the Packet Company and Sickles, a former employee of the company. The Packet Company had hired Sickles to work as a clerk on one of its ships, and Sickles had signed a contract agreeing to serve for a period of one year. However, Sickles left the ship before the end of the year, and the Packet Company sued him for breach of contract. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Packet Company, finding that Sickles had breached the contract by leaving the ship before the end of the year. The Court held that the contract was valid and enforceable, and that Sickles was liable for damages for his breach of the contract. The Court also held that the Packet Company was entitled to recover the wages it had paid to Sickles during the period of his employment. In its decision, the Supreme Court established the principle that a contract is binding and enforceable, and that a party who breaches a contract is liable for damages. This case is still cited today as an important precedent in contract law.

In Packet Company v. Sickles, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a contract between two parties should be enforced when it had been made without consideration and in violation of an existing law. The majority opinion held that the contract could not be enforced because it violated public policy by circumventing existing laws. However, Justice Field dissented from this decision on the grounds that contracts are generally enforceable unless they violate some fundamental principle of justice or morality or conflict with express statutory provisions. He argued that since there was no such provision here, and since both parties were willing to enter into a binding agreement, then their rights should have been respected and their contract enforced as valid under common law principles of freedom of contract.