Thompson v. Maxwell is a United States Supreme Court case that was decided in 1877. The case involved a dispute between two parties over the ownership of a piece of land in the state of Arkansas. The plaintiff, Thompson, claimed that he had purchased the land from the defendant, Maxwell, in 1871. Maxwell, however, argued that he had never sold the land to Thompson and that he was still the rightful owner. The Supreme Court ultimately sided with Thompson, ruling that he was the rightful owner of the land. The Court found that Thompson had provided sufficient evidence to prove that he had purchased the land from Maxwell in 1871. The Court also found that Maxwell had failed to provide any evidence to support his claim that he had never sold the land. As a result, the Court held that Thompson was the rightful owner of the land and that Maxwell had no legal right to it.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Thompson v. Maxwell, arguing that the majority's decision was incorrect and should be reversed. He argued that a contract between two parties is binding on both of them, regardless of whether one party had knowledge or not at the time they entered into it. Furthermore, he stated that if one party has been misled by another as to any material fact which affects their rights under the contract then they may have grounds for rescission or damages but cannot void an otherwise valid agreement simply because of lack of knowledge about some minor detail. In this case, Justice Field believed there was no evidence presented to show that either party had been misled regarding any material facts and thus concluded that neither could avoid their obligations under the contract without being held liable for breach thereof.