In the 1905 case of Chesapeake Beach Railway Company v. Washington, Potomac and Chesapeake Railroad Company, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with resolving a dispute over land rights for railway construction. The Chesapeake Beach Railway Company had obtained permission from Congress to construct a railway across certain lands in Maryland and Virginia. However, these lands were already being used by the Washington, Potomac and Chesapeake Railroad Company under an earlier grant from Congress. The court ruled that while both companies had been granted congressional approval to use the land for their respective railways, only one could actually do so due to physical limitations of space on the property in question. In deciding which company held priority right to build its railroad on this contested piece of land, it was determined that first possession gave superior title - meaning that since Washington, Potomac & Chesapeake RR Co.'s tracks were already laid down when Chesapeake Beach attempted to lay theirs down; they held rightful claim over usage of said tract as per common law principles.

In the dissenting opinion for Chesapeake Beach Railway Company v. Washington, Potomac and Chesapeake Railroad Company, Justice Harlan disagreed with the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling that allowed the defendant company to construct its railway line across land owned by the plaintiff without compensation. He argued that this violated property rights protected under common law principles and constitutional provisions against taking private property for public use without just compensation. The justice contended that while railroads serve a public purpose, they are also profit-making enterprises; thus, it is unjust to allow them to take another's property without payment simply because their operations benefit society at large. Furthermore, he believed that such an interpretation of eminent domain laws could lead to abuses where powerful corporations could seize smaller entities' properties unfairly.