The court used the dicta in an improper and political way for the purpose of quashing and deligitimizing the plaintiff’s case while disallowing discovery and trial on the merits of the case. It was just this kind of judicial misconduct which prompted some of the sates shortly after gaining independence to legislate new procedures requiring a trail by jury rather than before a magistrate or judge. In the years since, the judiciary has clawed back some of its more dictatorial and political perogatives possessed before the Revolution.