The U.S. Supreme Court case Compania Bilbaina de Navegacion, De Bilbao v. Spanish-American Light and Power Company in 1892 revolved around a dispute over the delivery of machinery from Spain to Mexico by the plaintiff, a shipping company based in Spain. The defendant, an American power company operating in Mexico, refused to pay for the shipment claiming that it was not delivered on time as per their contract agreement and thus caused them financial loss due to delay in operations. The court ruled against the shipping company stating that they had breached their contractual obligations by failing to deliver within agreed timeframe which resulted into losses for power company who were unable to operate without said machinery. This case set precedent regarding international commercial contracts and liabilities arising out of breach thereof.

In the dissenting opinion for the case of Compania Bilbaina de Navegacion, De Bilbao v. Spanish-American Light and Power Company, it was argued that there were significant errors in judgment by the majority. The dissenters believed that a more thorough examination of international law should have been conducted before making a decision on this complex matter involving maritime liens and foreign vessels. They contended that under international law principles, local laws should not be applied to foreign ships unless they are explicitly intended to do so or if doing otherwise would cause serious harm to local interests. In their view, neither condition was met in this case; hence applying U.S domestic lien laws unfairly disadvantaged the Spanish company involved in this dispute. Furthermore, they disagreed with how evidence from Spanish legal experts had been interpreted and felt these testimonies supported their position rather than contradicting it as claimed by the majority ruling.