Case Background
In 1795, the Georgia legislature signed a grant allowing the sale of approximately 35 million acres of land for the price of 1.5 cents per acre. Upon discovering that all but one of the legislatures had been bribed to do this, the public voted a new group into power in the next election. This new group repealed the land grant in 1796. In 1800, John Peck then purchased land that had been a part of the original deal. When he later sold 13,000 acres to Robert Fletcher, Fletcher soon discovered that the original deal from the legislature had been repealed. Fletcher then sued Peck for damages, claiming that Peck didn't technically own the land, and knew this when he sold it.
Rad to the Supreme Court
The case originated in the U.S. Circuit Court of Massachusetts, where Fletcher sued Peck. Since they were from different states, the case initiated in and proceeded through in the federal court system. The circuit court ruled in favor of Peck, and Fletcher then appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Motivations
Interestingly enough, in this court case both sided wanted Peck to win. Fletcher and Peck were both land speculators who would profit from Peck winning. Additionally, Peck winning would mean that the repealing of the original sale was invalid, meaning that the land belongs to Peck, and the land Peck sold belongs to Fletcher. Fletcher's main goal of bringing the case to the Supreme Court was to have them validate the ownership of the land on a national level.