In Sawyer v. Picket and Wife, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked to decide whether a husband and wife could be held jointly liable for a debt incurred by the husband. The Court held that the husband and wife could not be held jointly liable for the debt. The case arose when the husband, Picket, entered into a contract with Sawyer to purchase a steamboat. Picket was unable to pay the full amount of the purchase price, so Sawyer sued Picket and his wife, claiming that they were jointly liable for the debt. The Supreme Court disagreed, holding that the wife was not liable for the debt. The Court reasoned that the wife had not consented to the contract and had not received any benefit from it. Therefore, the Court held that the wife could not be held liable for the debt. The Court's decision in Sawyer v. Picket and Wife established the principle that a husband and wife cannot be held jointly liable for a debt incurred by the husband. This principle has been applied in numerous cases since then, and it remains an important part of the law today.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Sawyer v. Prickett and Wife, arguing that the majority had misapplied existing law to reach its conclusion. He argued that under prior case law, a husband was not liable for his wife's debts unless he had expressly agreed to be responsible for them or if they were incurred during their marriage while living together as man and wife. In this case, there was no evidence of an express agreement between Mr. Prickett and the creditor nor any indication that Mrs. Prickett’s debt was incurred while she lived with her husband; therefore, Justice Field concluded that Mr. Prickett should not be held liable for his wife’s debt according to established legal precedent at the time of this decision by the Supreme Court in 1886