The U.S. Supreme Court case Commonwealth of Virginia v. State of West Virginia in 1915 was a dispute over the boundary line between the two states, specifically involving Berkeley and Jefferson counties which had been part of Virginia but were included within West Virginia's borders after it became a separate state during the Civil War. The court ruled that these counties were indeed part of West Virginia, as they had given their consent to be incorporated into this new state through popular vote and by sending representatives to its legislature for many years without protest from Virginia. Furthermore, Congress implicitly recognized them as being part of West Virgina when admitting it into Union in 1863 with those counties included within its boundaries.

In the dissenting opinion for the case Commonwealth of Virginia v. State of West Virginia, Justice Holmes disagreed with the majority's decision to award damages to Virginia. He argued that there was no legal basis for such an award because it was not clear whether any harm had been done or if any benefit had been received by West Virginia due to its failure to pay a portion of the public debt as agreed upon during its separation from Virginia in 1863. Furthermore, he pointed out that this issue should have been resolved through negotiation between states rather than litigation before Supreme Court and expressed concern about potential future disputes over state debts being brought before court unnecessarily.