AFAIU that's the setting to pan with the left mouse button when space is pressed (Preferences > Scrolling) -> reproduced with Inkscape 0.48+devel r10009 on OS X 10.5.8 with docked dialogs.
Possibly same problem as reported in bug #505225 “Layer text box popup”, underlying unsolved issue bug #201203 “focus issues when using docked palettes”.
AFAIU that's the setting to pan with the left mouse button when space is pressed (Preferences > Scrolling) -> reproduced with Inkscape 0.48+devel r10009 on OS X 10.5.8 with docked dialogs.
Possibly same problem as reported in bug #505225 “Layer text box popup”, underlying unsolved issue bug #201203 “focus issues when using docked palettes”.