object Test { val f : PartialFunction[_, Int] = { case a : Int => a } // undefined param def foo[A](pf: PartialFunction[A, Int]) {}; foo { case a : Int => a } // undefined param val g : PartialFunction[Int, _] = { case a : Int => a } // okay } // Another variation, seen in the wild with Specs2. class X { trait Matcher[-T] def bar[T](m: Matcher[T]) = null def bar[T](i: Int) = null def foo[T](p: PartialFunction[T, Any]): Matcher[T] = null case class M[X](a: X) bar[M[Any]] (foo { // undefined param case M(_) => null }) }