The Steamship Benefactor v. Mount was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1880. The dispute arose when the steamboat Benefactor collided with another vessel, causing damage to both boats and their cargo. The owners of the damaged vessels sued for damages from each other, but they disagreed on who should be held liable for what portion of those damages. In its decision, the court found that since both ships were at fault in some way for causing the collision, they should share responsibility equally and split any resulting costs or losses between them. Furthermore, it ruled that if one party had been more negligent than another then that party would bear a greater burden of liability; however this did not apply in this particular case as neither ship could be said to have acted negligently beyond what was expected under normal circumstances given their respective positions at sea during the time of impact. Ultimately, this ruling established an important precedent regarding shared responsibility among parties involved in maritime collisions going forward into future cases involving similar disputes over liability and compensation following such accidents on navigable waters within US jurisdiction

In The Steamship Benefactor v. Mount, the Supreme Court was tasked with determining whether a contract between two parties could be enforced when it had been made without consideration and in violation of a state statute. Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion, arguing that there should have been no enforcement of this contract because it violated both common law principles and public policy as expressed by the relevant state statute. He argued that contracts must always involve some form of consideration to be valid under common law, which was absent here; furthermore, he noted that even if such consideration were present, enforcing this particular agreement would still violate public policy as expressed through the applicable state laws. As such, Justice Field concluded that this contract should not have been enforced due to its lack of legal validity or enforceability under either common law or statutory provisions.