grandfather clause

In a legal sense, an exemption statement in statute, law, or ordinance permitting some of those affected by the law to continue using the previous statute, law, or ordinance. For example, a business may be exempt from restrictions from a new zoning ordinance.

Historically, grandfather clauses have been used as suppression tools against vulnerable groups of people.

The term comes from a reaction of southern states after the Civil War. In an effort to disenfranchise new Black voters, these states began passing laws in or around the 1890s that a person was eligible to vote only if he was eligible to vote before the right to vote (in 1867) or if his father or grandfather had been eligible to vote. For short, these laws were termed a grandfather clause.

In 1915, the Supreme Court of the United States unanimously ruled that these grandfather clauses were unconstitutionally in Guinn v. United States, even while upholding other types of segregationist poll tests and taxes in other cases.

The term continues to be used by some historical building preservationists or historical neighborhood commissions to avoid creating accessible entry to historical buildings built before the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The ADA does not include a grandfather clause for historical properties open for public use or used by businesses from accessibility.

EAPM suggests placing the term grandfather clause in quotes when used in these contexts.

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