Shrewsbury v. United States was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1873. The case involved a dispute between the United States and the Shrewsbury family over the ownership of a tract of land in the state of Virginia. The Shrewsbury family had purchased the land in 1845, but the United States claimed that the land had been granted to them by the Virginia legislature in 1836. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the United States, finding that the Virginia legislature had the power to grant the land to the United States. The Court also held that the Shrewsbury family had no legal right to the land, as they had not obtained a valid deed from the United States. The decision was significant in that it established the principle that the United States has the power to acquire land from states without the consent of the state legislature.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Shrewsbury v. United States, arguing that the majority had erred in its interpretation of the law. He argued that a contract between two parties should be interpreted according to its plain language and not by any extraneous considerations or inferences. In this case, he argued, there was no ambiguity in the contract's terms; it clearly stated that if either party failed to perform their obligations under it then they would be liable for damages caused by such failure. The majority had instead relied on an inference drawn from other contracts which did not apply here because those contracts contained different language than what was present here. Furthermore, Justice Field noted that even if one were to accept this inference as valid then it still could not justify holding Shrewsbury liable since his breach of contract occurred after all other breaches and thus could only have been a contributing factor at best rather than being solely responsible for causing damage as required by law for liability to attach. Ultimately he concluded that since there was no evidence showing how much each breach contributed towards causing damage then none of them should be held liable and thus Shrewsbury should prevail in his suit against the government