In the case of British Queen Mining Company v. Baker Silver Mining Company, 1890, the U.S Supreme Court was asked to resolve a dispute over mining rights in Nevada. The British Queen Mining Co., which had been operating a mine on public land for several years, claimed that it owned all mineral deposits within its claim boundaries under the General Mining Act of 1872. However, Baker Silver Mining Co., which later discovered silver veins extending from its own adjacent property into the area claimed by British Queen, argued that it had an equal right to extract these minerals based on lode rights granted by federal law. The court ruled in favor of Baker Silver Mining Co., stating that while surface claims were protected under federal law and could not be infringed upon without compensation or agreement between parties involved; subsurface mineral rights (lodes) were different and did not necessarily follow surface boundaries if they extended beyond them naturally underground. This ruling clarified how mining laws should be interpreted regarding ownership disputes over subterranean resources.

In the dissenting opinion for British Queen Mining Company v. Baker Silver Mining Company, it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling in favor of Baker Silver Mining Co. was incorrect due to an improper interpretation of mining law. The dissenting justices believed that British Queen had valid rights to mine silver under their claim, despite not having physically marked its boundaries on the surface as required by statute before starting operations underground. They contended that this requirement should be waived given the unique circumstances and practical difficulties involved in marking out such boundaries in mountainous terrain where snow often covers landmarks for months at a time. Furthermore, they disagreed with the majority's view about "extralateral" rights - or rights extending beyond vertical lines drawn from boundary markers - arguing instead that these should apply only within one’s own claim and not into neighboring ones unless explicitly granted by law or agreement between parties involved.