In the case of Wagoner v. Evans in 1897, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a dispute over land ownership. The plaintiff, Wagoner, claimed that he had purchased land from an individual who had received it as part of a military bounty land warrant under false pretenses and thus did not have legal title to sell it. The defendant, Evans, argued that he was protected by the doctrine of "bona fide purchaser," meaning he bought the property in good faith without knowledge of any issues with its title. The court sided with Evans stating that even if there were irregularities or fraud involved in obtaining the original grant for this property; those would not affect subsequent purchasers if they acquired it honestly and without notice about such problems. Therefore, despite potential initial fraudulent acquisition of said lands via military warrants - their resale to innocent third parties remains valid.

In the dissenting opinion for Wagoner v. Evans, the justice argued that there was no legal basis to deny a citizen's right to vote based on their inability or unwillingness to pay a poll tax. The justice believed this practice violated the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution which guarantees equal protection under law and prohibits states from denying any person within its jurisdiction equal protection of laws. He contended that voting is an inherent right of citizenship and should not be conditioned upon wealth or property ownership. Furthermore, he asserted that such practices were discriminatory in nature as they disproportionately affected poor citizens who could not afford to pay these taxes, thereby effectively disenfranchising them from participating in democratic processes. Thus, he disagreed with majority’s decision upholding Alabama’s poll tax requirement for voter registration.