In the case of Richmond Mortgage & Loan Corp. v. Wachovia Bank & Trust Co., et al., Executor, 1936, the Supreme Court ruled on a dispute involving bankruptcy and property rights. The plaintiff, Richmond Mortgage & Loan Corporation had made loans to two individuals who later declared bankruptcy. These individuals had given mortgages on their properties as security for these loans which were recorded in public records but not registered under North Carolina's Torrens system (a land registration and land transfer system). When they went bankrupt, Wachovia Bank was appointed as executor of their estates by a federal court in North Carolina. Richmond argued that it should have priority over other creditors because its mortgages were recorded first; however, Wachovia contended that since the mortgages weren't registered under the Torrens system they didn't count towards priority status. The Supreme Court sided with Wachovia stating that while recording did provide notice to subsequent purchasers or encumbrancers about existing claims against a property it did not necessarily establish superiority over other claimants especially when state law required registration under another specific process like the Torrens System.

In the dissenting opinion for Richmond Mortgage & Loan Corp. v. Wachovia Bank & Trust Co., it was argued that the majority's decision to uphold a state law allowing banks to charge higher interest rates on loans made outside of their home states violated the Constitution's Commerce Clause, which gives Congress exclusive power over interstate commerce. The dissenting justices believed that this law unfairly discriminated against out-of-state lenders and thus interfered with free trade among states. They also disagreed with the majority's interpretation of an earlier Supreme Court ruling, Marquette National Bank v. First Omaha Service Corp., arguing that it did not give individual states carte blanche authority to regulate all aspects of banking within their borders without regard for its impact on interstate commerce.