Yeaton v. Fry was a case heard by the United States Supreme Court in 1809. The dispute arose when William Yeaton, an officer of the revenue cutter service, sued Thomas Fry for libel after he published a newspaper article accusing Yeaton of misconduct and neglecting his duties as an officer. In response to this accusation, Yeaton argued that it was false and defamatory and sought damages from Fry for slanderous words uttered against him. The court found in favor of Yeaton on the grounds that even though there may have been some truth to what Fry said about him, it did not excuse or justify his actions because they were still considered maliciously spoken with intent to injure another's reputation. As such, the court awarded damages to Yeaton for defamation of character caused by Fry’s publication which had damaged his good name and standing among members of society at large.

In Yeaton v. Fry, the Supreme Court was asked to determine whether a contract between two parties could be enforced if it had been made without consideration. The majority opinion held that the contract should not be enforced because there was no consideration given by either party in exchange for its performance. However, Justice Chase dissented from this opinion and argued that contracts do not necessarily need to have an element of consideration in order to be valid and enforceable under law. He reasoned that when two parties agree upon something with mutual assent, they are bound by their agreement regardless of any lack of consideration on either side's part; thus, he concluded that the court should enforce such agreements as long as both sides agreed freely and voluntarily without fraud or duress being present at the time of formation.