In Harter v. Twohig, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over land ownership in New Mexico. The plaintiff, Harter, claimed that he had purchased the property from its original owner and thus held rightful title to it. However, the defendant, Twohig argued that he was entitled to ownership of this land due to his long-term possession and use of it under a doctrine known as "adverse possession". The court ruled in favor of Twohig stating that even though there were irregularities in how he acquired the property initially (through tax sales), his continuous occupation and improvement on this land for more than 20 years without any legal challenge by others gave him valid claim to it through adverse possession. This case reaffirmed the principle that long-term uninterrupted use can sometimes override formal title deeds when determining true ownership rights.

In the dissenting opinion for Harter v. Twohig, Justice Brewer argued that the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling was incorrect because it failed to consider key elements of contract law. He believed that when Mr. Harter agreed to sell his land and accepted payment from Mr. Twohig, a binding contract was formed regardless of whether or not an official deed had been transferred at the time of sale. According to Justice Brewer, this agreement should have been honored by both parties and enforced by the courts as per standard contractual obligations rather than being nullified due to technicalities related with property transfer procedures under state laws in Kansas where this case originated from.