In the case of Coosaw Mining Company v. South Carolina in 1891, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute over mining rights for phosphate deposits in navigable waters within state borders. The Coosaw Mining Company claimed exclusive rights to mine phosphates based on an 1870 Act by South Carolina's legislature granting them such privileges. However, later legislation revoked these exclusive rights and opened up mining to competition through public bidding. The company argued that this violated their contract with the state and was thus unconstitutional under the Contract Clause of the Constitution. The court sided with South Carolina, ruling that states have sovereign control over their navigable waters and can regulate commerce within those boundaries as they see fit - including revoking previously granted commercial privileges if it serves public interest or welfare. This decision upheld states' authority to manage natural resources within their jurisdiction without being bound indefinitely by past contracts.

In the dissenting opinion for Coosaw Mining Company v. South Carolina, Justice Bradley argued that the state of South Carolina did not have exclusive rights to regulate and control oyster and phosphate mining in navigable waters within its borders. He contended that such a claim was inconsistent with federal law governing navigation rights on interstate waterways, which he believed superseded any state laws or claims to contrary jurisdictional authority. Furthermore, he disagreed with the majority's interpretation of previous legal precedents regarding riparian ownership rights and their application to this case. In his view, these cases were not applicable because they dealt primarily with non-navigable waters where states traditionally held more regulatory power than over navigable ones used for interstate commerce. Thus, according to him, by granting South Carolina exclusive control over these resources in its navigable waters would unfairly limit free trade among states and infringe upon federal powers granted by the Constitution.