In Wood v. Lide, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked to decide whether a contract between two parties could be enforced if it had been made without consideration. The plaintiff in this case argued that he had entered into an agreement with the defendant to purchase land for a certain sum of money and that he should be allowed to enforce it even though there was no consideration given by either party at the time of making the agreement. The court held that contracts must have some form of consideration in order for them to be legally binding and thus dismissed the plaintiff's claim as invalid. This decision established an important precedent which has since become known as "the doctrine of consideration" - namely, that all contracts must involve something being exchanged or promised by both parties in order for them to be valid under law.

In Wood v. Lide, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a deed of trust created by an individual in South Carolina was valid under the laws of that state. The majority opinion held that it was not valid because it did not comply with certain formalities required by South Carolina law. Justice Chase dissented from this decision and argued that although there were some irregularities in the execution of the deed, they should be overlooked due to its clear intent and purpose as well as its substantial compliance with all other legal requirements for such deeds. He further noted that if these irregularities had been corrected before litigation began, then no one would have questioned their validity or enforceability under South Carolina law. Therefore, he concluded that since both parties intended to create a binding agreement between them and acted on this understanding without any fraud or deception being involved, then justice demanded upholding the deed's validity despite any technical flaws which may exist in its execution process.