The Supreme Court case of Schooner Paulina's Cargo v. The United States involved a dispute between the owner of a schooner, named Paulina, and the United States government over cargo that had been seized by the US Navy during wartime. The owner argued that he was entitled to compensation for his losses due to an act passed by Congress in 1804 which provided for such compensation when goods were taken from American citizens during war time. However, the US government argued that this act did not apply because it only applied to vessels owned by Americans at the time they were seized and since Paulina was owned by a British subject at the time she was captured, no compensation could be given. Ultimately, after much deliberation on both sides of this argument, Chief Justice John Marshall ruled in favor of Schooner Paulina's Cargo and ordered payment from damages caused as well as interest accrued on those damages since their seizure occurred more than two years prior to trial date.

In Schooner Paulina's Cargo v. The United States, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a vessel and its cargo that had been captured by an enemy of the United States during wartime could be considered as abandoned property under maritime law. In a 5-4 decision, Justice Story delivered the dissenting opinion on behalf of himself and three other justices. He argued that since there was no evidence presented in court to prove abandonment or forfeiture of ownership rights over the vessel and its cargo, it should not be assumed that they were abandoned simply because they were taken by an enemy force during war time. Furthermore, he noted that even if such proof did exist, it would still have to meet certain legal requirements before being accepted as valid evidence for abandonment or forfeiture purposes. As such, Justice Story concluded that without sufficient proof demonstrating otherwise, any presumption regarding abandonment must fail in this case and thus judgment should go against The United States' claim for possession of said vessel and cargo