The United States Supreme Court case of The United States v. Joseph Lawton, Executor of Charles Lawton, Martha Pollard, Hannah Maria Kershaw Wife of James Kershaw et al., involved a dispute over the ownership and title to certain lands in Georgia. At issue was whether or not the land had been granted by Congress under an act passed in 1802 for military services rendered during the Revolutionary War. The court held that although some individuals may have received grants from Congress prior to 1802, they were invalid as there was no legal authority at that time for such grants. Furthermore, any subsequent grantees would also be unable to establish valid titles due to lack of proper authorization from Congress before 1802. Ultimately it was determined that none of the parties could establish valid title and thus all claims were dismissed with prejudice.

In The United States v. Joseph Lawton, the Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a certain parcel of land in South Carolina should be sold by the government or returned to its original owners. Justice McLean wrote a dissenting opinion arguing that Congress had no authority under the Constitution to pass laws authorizing such sales and that it was an act of oppression for them to do so. He argued that if Congress wanted this power they would have needed an amendment from all states before passing any law on this matter. Furthermore, he argued that since there were already existing state laws governing these matters, it was inappropriate for Congress to interfere with those laws without proper authorization from each state involved in the dispute. In conclusion, Justice McLean believed that returning the property back to its rightful owners would be more just than selling it off as proposed by Congress and thus dissented from his colleagues' majority opinion which favored sale over return of ownership rights