In the case of Williams v. United States in 1890, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a person who was tried and convicted for murder on an American vessel at sea could not be retried for manslaughter after his initial conviction had been overturned on appeal. The defendant, Mr. Williams, argued that he should have been able to plead "not guilty" to the charge of manslaughter because it was a lesser offense than murder and thus constituted a separate crime under law. However, the court disagreed with this argument stating that both charges were part of one continuous act (the killing) and therefore fell within the same jurisdictional purview - meaning they couldn't be separated into two distinct trials or punishments. This decision set important precedent regarding double jeopardy protections in U.S., which prevent individuals from being tried twice for substantially the same crime.

In the dissenting opinion for Williams v. United States, Justice Lamar argued that the court had overstepped its bounds by interpreting a statute in a way that was not intended by Congress. He believed that the majority's interpretation of "any other person" to include corporations was incorrect and inconsistent with previous rulings on similar statutes. Furthermore, he contended that this broad interpretation could lead to absurd results where corporations could be held criminally liable for actions they are incapable of committing due to their nature as legal entities rather than individuals. Therefore, he disagreed with the majority's decision and would have ruled in favor of Williams instead.