In the case of Stewart Mining Company v. Ontario Mining Company in 1914, the U.S Supreme Court was tasked with resolving a dispute over mining rights. The Stewart Mining Company had claimed that they were entitled to certain ores which lay within their vertical boundaries but extended into land owned by the Ontario Mining Company due to an inclined vein or lode. However, the court ruled against this claim based on its interpretation of Section 2322 of Revised Statutes and previous rulings such as Del Monte MC & SMC v. Last Chance MC Co., where it held that apex ownership does not grant exclusive right to extract all minerals found within vertical planes extending downward from end lines if those minerals extend into another's property through an extralateral vein or lode. Therefore, despite owning surface rights above these deposits, Stewart could not mine them without infringing upon Ontario’s property rights.

The dissenting opinion in the case of Stewart Mining Company v. Ontario Mining Company argued that the majority's ruling was incorrect because it failed to properly consider and apply principles of equity. The dissent believed that the plaintiff, Stewart Mining Company, had not acted with clean hands - a principle requiring parties seeking equitable relief to have conducted themselves fairly and without fraud or deceit. They pointed out that Stewart knew about Ontario’s operations for years but did nothing until they discovered valuable ore on their land which could be accessed through Ontario's tunnel. This delay in action should bar them from obtaining an injunction against Ontario since they tacitly allowed its activities for so long before suing, according to this view. Furthermore, the dissent disagreed with how damages were calculated by using profits made from extracted ores rather than considering actual harm caused by trespassing into unmined areas as well as potential future losses due to inability to mine those areas after being mined by another party first.