Concepts Definitions

• Restrictive Covenant: An agreement or promise, often found in a deed, that limits or restricts the use of real property. While some private restrictions can be valid, those based on discriminatory factors are not.

• Racial Discrimination: The act of treating individuals unequally or denying them rights based on their race. In real estate, this is illegal.

• Fair Housing Act (Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968): A federal law prohibiting discrimination in housing transactions (sale, rental, financing) on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or familial status.

• Shelley v. Kraemer (1948): A landmark Supreme Court case that declared racially restrictive covenants unenforceable by state courts, as such enforcement would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

• Fourteenth Amendment: A constitutional amendment that guarantees equal protection under the law for all citizens, prohibiting states from enacting or enforcing laws that discriminate.

• Unenforceable: A term describing a contract or a clause within a contract that cannot be legally upheld or put into effect by a court of law due to its illegality.

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