Julian McCarty and John Wynn, administrators of Enoch McCarty who had passed away, brought a case against Guernsey Y. Roots, Erastus P. Coe and John H. Aydelotte to the Supreme Court in 1858. The plaintiffs argued that they were entitled to certain lands located in Indiana which had been granted by Congress under an act of 1820 as compensation for military services rendered during the War of 1812 by their deceased ancestor Enoch McCarty; however, these defendants claimed title to said land through a patent issued from the United States government after it was sold at public auction due to nonpayment of taxes on it for several years prior. The Supreme Court held that although there may have been some irregularities with respect to how this land was acquired by the defendants via tax sale proceedings, such irregularities did not invalidate their claim since they purchased it in good faith without knowledge or notice that someone else already owned it or had any right thereto; thus affirming lower court's decision denying relief sought by plaintiffs and dismissing their complaint with costs assessed against them accordingly.

In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a deed of trust created by Enoch McCarty before his death was valid. The majority opinion held that it was not valid because it did not comply with state law requirements for such deeds. However, in dissent Justice Grier argued that the deed should be considered valid and binding on all parties involved. He reasoned that since there were no objections raised at the time of its execution or during probate proceedings after McCarty's death, then it must have been accepted as legally sufficient by all those involved and therefore should be enforced according to its terms. Furthermore, he noted that even if some technical defect existed in the document itself, equity would still require enforcement due to long-standing principles of fairness and justice which dictate against allowing one party to benefit from another's mistake or oversight when they had acted in good faith reliance upon an agreement made between them both.