The United States brought a case against Horace Southmayd and Stephen C. Southmayd for the alleged infringement of a patent granted to John H. Hall in 1839 for an improvement in breech-loading firearms. The defendants argued that the patent was invalid because it had been obtained by fraud, but the Supreme Court held that this defense could not be sustained as there was no evidence of any intentional deception on behalf of Hall or his agents when obtaining the patent from Congress. Furthermore, even if such fraud had occurred, it would have only affected those who were parties to it and not third parties like Horace and Stephen Southmayd who purchased their guns after they were patented without knowledge or suspicion of any wrong doing on Hall's part. As such, the court found that neither defendant could avail themselves of this defense and affirmed judgment for damages against them both

In the case of The United States v. Horace Southmayd and Stephen C. Southmayd, Chief Justice Taney delivered a dissenting opinion in which he argued that the Court should not have granted relief to the defendants because they had failed to prove their title to the land in question. He noted that while it was true that Congress had passed an act granting them certain rights, those rights were limited by other laws and regulations governing public lands at the time of purchase. Furthermore, he argued that even if these statutes did grant some sort of right or privilege to purchasers such as Horace and Stephen Southmayd, they still needed to demonstrate proof of ownership before being entitled to any legal protection from eviction by third parties claiming superior title. In conclusion, Chief Justice Taney believed there was insufficient evidence presented for him or his colleagues on the bench to conclude definitively who held rightful claim over this particular parcel of land in dispute between two parties with conflicting interests; thus no ruling could be made without further investigation into each party's respective claims prior thereto.