In Watts v. Waddle (1832) 31 U.S. 389, the complaint prayed for specific performance of the defendants' contract to purchase land, and in addition, for general relief. The Court held that, although the complainants were not entitled to the specific relief requested, the allegations in the complaint that the defendants had been in possession of the land involved in the controversy entitled the complainants to recover rents and profits under the prayer for general relief. In that case, the Supreme Court affirmed the decree of the Circuit Court refusing the specific execution of a contract, but, after reviewing the evidence in detail, it further ordered that to give relief for the rents and profits of the land in controversy, the decree of the Circuit Court, dismissing the bill, should be opened, and the case remanded for further proceedings in conformity with law and justice. In delivering the opinion of the court, Mr. Justice McLean observed that "a new ground of relief has been assumed in the argument here that was not made in the Circuit Court, which is, that although this court should be of the opinion that a specific execution of the contract ought not to be decreed, still the complainants are entitled to a decree for the rents and profits of the land, while it was in the possession of the defendants. . . . There is no rule of court or principle of law, which prevents the complainants from assuming a ground in this court, which was not suggested in the court below; but such a course may be productive of much inconvenience and of some expense." The Court held that where the bill states a case proper for an account, one may be ordered under the prayer for general relief.