John Scott and Carl Boland were the plaintiffs in error while John Jones, lessee of the Detroit Young Men's Society was the defendant in error. The case revolved around a dispute between Scott and Boland who had leased a building from Jones for use as an assembly room. After they failed to pay rent on time, Jones locked them out of their premises and refused to allow them back until they paid all outstanding debts owed. In response, Scott and Boland sued for damages claiming that their exclusion violated their rights under Michigan law which stated that no one should be excluded from any public place without just cause or legal process. The Supreme Court ultimately ruled against Scott and Boland finding that since there was no contract between them regarding access to the premises, it did not violate any laws when Jones denied entry due to nonpayment of rent. This decision established precedent by confirming that landlords have authority over tenants even if state laws protect certain rights related to public places such as assembly rooms.

In this case, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a lessee of property had the right to exclude African Americans from using it. The majority opinion held that such exclusion was legal and did not violate any laws or rights. However, Justice McLean dissented on the grounds that there were no laws in place allowing for such discrimination against African Americans and thus their exclusion violated their constitutional rights as citizens of Michigan. He argued that while private individuals may have certain freedoms when it comes to how they use their own property, those same freedoms do not extend so far as to allow them to deny basic civil liberties guaranteed by law. Furthermore, he noted that if people are allowed to discriminate based on race then other forms of discrimination could easily follow suit which would be detrimental both legally and socially.