In Murray's Lessee v. Baker et al., the Supreme Court of the United States heard a dispute between two parties over land ownership in Virginia. The plaintiff, Daniel Murray, was granted a lease from Lord Fairfax to use and occupy certain lands in 1774. After his death, his heirs continued to possess and cultivate the property until 1809 when they were ejected by defendants Thomas Baker and others who claimed title under an earlier grant from Fairfax made in 1753. The question before the court was whether or not this prior grant extinguished any rights that had been acquired through subsequent leases such as those held by Murray's estate. In its decision, the Supreme Court found that while it could not determine which party had superior title to the land itself due to conflicting evidence presented at trial, it did find that all subsequent leases after 1753 were invalidated by virtue of Fairfax’s original grant and thus ruled for Baker et al..

In Murray's Lessee v. Baker et al., the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a tenant in possession of land had the right to bring an action for trespass against another person who entered and took timber from that land without permission. The majority opinion held that tenants in possession did not have such a right, but Justice Story dissented from this decision. He argued that it would be unjust if tenants were unable to protect their property rights by bringing suit when someone wrongfully intruded on their lands and removed something valuable like timber or crops; he believed they should have the same legal protection as any other owner of real estate. Furthermore, he noted that there had been no clear precedent set by prior cases regarding this issue, so it seemed unfair for the court to deny tenants these protections without further consideration of all relevant facts and circumstances surrounding each case.