In the case of Irving Trust Co. v. A.W. Perry, Inc., in 1934, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving bankruptcy law and property rights. The Irving Trust Company was acting as trustee for a bankrupt company that had leased land from A.W Perry, Inc., but defaulted on its lease payments before declaring bankruptcy. The question at hand was whether or not the trustee could reject this unexpired lease under Section 70b of the Bankruptcy Act without surrendering possession of the premises to A.W Perry, Inc. The court held that while trustees have broad powers to disaffirm burdensome contracts under Section 70b, they cannot retain benefits conferred by such contracts after disaffirmation - including possession of leased premises - unless they continue to meet contractual obligations like paying rent. Therefore, if a bankrupt lessee's trustee wishes to remain in possession of rented property after rejecting an unexpired lease contractually binding them to pay rent (a burden), then it must continue meeting those rental obligations (benefits). This ruling effectively balanced interests between lessors seeking payment and trustees trying to maximize value for creditors during bankruptcy proceedings.

In the dissenting opinion for Irving Trust Co. v. A.W. Perry, Inc., Justice Cardozo disagreed with the majority's decision to allow a trustee in bankruptcy to recover payments made by an insolvent debtor within four months of filing for bankruptcy if those payments were preferential and enabled any creditor to receive more than they would have under normal bankruptcy proceedings. He argued that this interpretation was too broad and went beyond what Congress intended when it enacted the Bankruptcy Act of 1898, which aimed at preventing fraudulent transfers rather than all preferences. According to him, not every preference is fraudulent or unjust; some are justifiable and should be allowed even in insolvency cases as long as there is no intent on part of debtor or recipient to hinder, delay or defraud other creditors.