In the case of Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company v. Hughes, the Supreme Court of the United States was asked to determine whether a mortgage deed was valid. The plaintiff, Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company, had loaned money to the defendant, Hughes, and had taken a mortgage deed as security for the loan. The deed was signed by Hughes and his wife, but the wife had not been present when the deed was executed. The Supreme Court held that the deed was valid, as the wife had ratified the deed by her subsequent conduct. The Court noted that the wife had accepted the benefits of the deed, and had not taken any action to repudiate it. The Court also noted that the deed had been recorded in the public records, and that the wife had not taken any action to challenge the deed's validity. The Court concluded that the deed was valid, and that the plaintiff was entitled to the security provided by the deed.

Justice Field delivered the dissenting opinion in Dundee Mortgage and Trust Investment Company v. Hughes, arguing that a mortgagee should not be able to foreclose on a mortgagor's property without first obtaining an order from the court of equity. The majority had held that such foreclosure was permissible under Illinois law, but Justice Field disagreed with this interpretation of state law. He argued that while it may have been possible for a mortgagee to obtain relief through self-help measures prior to 1872 when the relevant statute was passed, this did not mean that such actions were still allowed after 1872; rather, he believed they were prohibited by then existing statutes which required judicial approval before any foreclosure could take place. Furthermore, Justice Field noted that even if there had been no statutory prohibition against self-help remedies at the time of passage of the relevant statute in question here (1872), courts should still interpret it as prohibiting them because allowing them would lead to great injustice and hardship for mortgagors who might otherwise lose their homes without due process or legal recourse.