Hezekiah Smith brought a case against William Hunter, Treasurer of Butler County, James B. Cameron, Auditor of Butler County and the President and Trustees of Miami University. He argued that he was entitled to receive certain funds from the county treasury for services rendered as a teacher in one of its schools. The Supreme Court held that Smith had no right to recover any money from the defendants because his claim was not supported by any law or contract authorizing him to be paid out of public funds. Furthermore, it found that even if there were such an agreement between Smith and the school district trustees at some point in time, it would have been void since state laws prohibited teachers from receiving compensation directly from public funds without approval by both houses of legislature first.

In this case, the plaintiff Hezekiah Smith argued that he was entitled to a refund of taxes paid on certain lands in Butler County. The Supreme Court disagreed and held that the tax had been lawfully imposed by the state legislature and could not be challenged in court. Justice McLean dissented from this opinion, arguing that it violated fundamental principles of justice. He noted that while states have broad authority to impose taxes for public purposes, they must do so within constitutional limits; here, however, there was no evidence presented as to why such an exorbitant rate of taxation had been imposed on these particular lands or how it related to any legitimate public purpose. Furthermore, Justice McLean argued that if such high rates were allowed without explanation or justification then other taxpayers would be subject to arbitrary assessments with no recourse available through the courts. As such he concluded his dissent by stating "I cannot assent" to upholding a law which violates basic notions of fairness and due process under the Constitution.