In the case of Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey v. Steinhauser, 1913, the U.S Supreme Court dealt with a dispute over property rights and inheritance laws. The Order of St. Benedict had received a donation from Wirth's estate but his administrator, Steinhauser, contested this on grounds that it violated New Jersey law which prohibited charitable donations exceeding $50 to religious organizations without explicit permission in the will or testamentary document itself. The court ruled in favor of Steinhauser stating that since there was no specific provision for such large bequests to religious orders in Wirth's will, it contravened state law thus making the donation invalid.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Order of St. Benedict of New Jersey v. Steinhauser, 1913, argued that the majority's decision to uphold a lower court ruling denying recovery for an alleged breach of contract was incorrect. The dissenting justices believed that there was sufficient evidence presented by the plaintiff (Order of St. Benedict) to warrant a trial on whether or not defendant (Steinhauser) had breached his contractual obligations as administrator for Wirth’s estate by failing to pay funds owed under an agreement made with Wirth prior to his death. They contended that it should have been left up to a jury, rather than judges at any level, to decide if such breach occurred based on this evidence and thus disagreed with both the lower court's dismissal and Supreme Court's affirmation thereof.