Prentice v. Pickersgill was a United States Supreme Court case that dealt with the issue of whether a contract between two parties was valid. The case involved a dispute between two parties, Prentice and Pickersgill, over a contract for the sale of a piece of land. Prentice had agreed to purchase the land from Pickersgill, but Pickersgill later refused to honor the contract. Prentice then sued Pickersgill for breach of contract. The Supreme Court held that the contract between the two parties was valid and enforceable. The Court found that the contract was supported by consideration, meaning that both parties had given something of value in exchange for the land. The Court also found that the contract was not voidable due to any lack of capacity or fraud. The Court's decision in Prentice v. Pickersgill established that contracts between two parties are valid and enforceable if they are supported by consideration and are not voidable due to any lack of capacity or fraud. This decision has been cited in numerous subsequent cases and has become an important precedent in contract law.

In Prentice v. Pickersgill, the Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a state court had jurisdiction to hear an appeal from a federal district court's decision in admiralty cases. The majority opinion held that the state courts did not have such authority and thus dismissed the case. However, Justice Field dissented on this point and argued that Congress had given states concurrent jurisdiction over appeals from federal district courts in admiralty cases by passing laws granting them such power. He also noted that there were no constitutional provisions prohibiting states from exercising their own powers of review when it came to these types of matters, as long as they did not conflict with any existing federal law or regulation. As such, he concluded that the state court should be allowed to hear this particular appeal since there was nothing preventing it from doing so under current law or precedent at the time of judgment.