This Supreme Court case involved James Hughes, the plaintiff in error, and the Trustees of the Town of Clarksville, defendants in error. The dispute centered on a contract between Hughes and the town trustees that was made for him to build a bridge across Red River at Clarksville. The agreement stipulated that he would be paid $2 per lineal foot for his work but when it came time to pay him after completion of construction, they refused to do so because they believed he had not fulfilled all aspects of their agreement. In response, Hughes sued them for breach of contract and sought damages from them as compensation. After hearing both sides' arguments, the court ruled in favor of Hughes by finding that there had been an implied promise on behalf of the trustees to pay him upon completion regardless if all conditions were met or not; thus making them liable for any losses suffered by Hughes due to their refusal to honor their contractual obligations.

In the case of James Hughes v. The Trustees of the Town of Clarksville, Justice McLean delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the plaintiff had been denied his constitutional right to due process. He noted that while it was true that an individual's property could be taken for public use if they were justly compensated, this did not apply when there was no intention to make such compensation or even any effort made towards doing so. In this particular case, Justice McLean felt that since no attempt had been made by either party to reach an agreement on what would constitute fair compensation for taking Mr. Hughes' land and using it as a roadbed, then his rights under the Constitution had been violated and he should have received some form of reparation from those responsible for its appropriation without consent or payment.