Buchanan v. Warley
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''Buchanan v. Warley'', 245 U.S. 60 (1917), is a case in which the Supreme Court of the United States addressed civil government-instituted
racial segregation Racial segregation is the systematic separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Racial segregation can amount to the international crime of apartheid and a crimes against hum ...
in residential areas. The Court held unanimously that a
Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...
,
Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...
city ordinance prohibiting the sale of real property to blacks in white-majority neighborhoods or buildings and vice versa violated the Fourteenth Amendment's protections for freedom of contract. The ruling of the
Kentucky Court of Appeals The Kentucky Court of Appeals is the lower of Kentucky's two appellate courts, under the Kentucky Supreme Court. Prior to a 1975 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution the Kentucky Court of Appeals was the only appellate court in Kentucky. Th ...
was thus reversed. Prior state court rulings had overturned racial
zoning Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
ordinances on grounds of the "takings clause" because of their failures to
grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...
land that had been owned prior to enactment. The Court, in ''Buchanan'', ruled that the motive for the Louisville ordinance, separation of races for purported reasons, was an inappropriate exercise of police power, and its insufficient purpose also made it
unconstitutional Constitutionality is said to be the condition of acting in accordance with an applicable constitution; "Webster On Line" the status of a law, a procedure, or an act's accordance with the laws or set forth in the applicable constitution. When l ...
.


Background

The city of Louisville had an ordinance that forbade any black individuals to own or occupy any buildings in an area in which a greater number of white persons resided and vice versa. In 1915,
William Warley William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Eng ...
, the prospective black buyer and an attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP), made an offer to Charles H. Buchanan for his property in a predominantly white neighborhood. He based his offer on the following condition:
It is understood that I am purchasing the above property for the purpose of having erected thereon a house which I propose to make my residence, and it is a distinct part of this agreement that I shall not be required to accept a deed to the above property or to pay for said property unless I have the right under the laws of the State of Kentucky and the City of Louisville to occupy said property as a residence.
Buchanan, a white man, accepted the offer. When Warley did not complete the transaction, Buchanan brought an action in the Chancery Court of Louisville to force him to complete the purchase. Warley argued that Louisville's ordinance prevented him from occupying the property, so it was of less value to him. Buchanan sued on the grounds that the ordinance was unconstitutional, and he should receive full payment.


Decision

The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Buchanan: "The effect of the ordinance under consideration was not merely to regulate a business or the like, but was to destroy the right of the individual to acquire, enjoy, and dispose of his property. Being of this character, it was void as being opposed to the due process clause of the constitution." Reversing the Appeals Court decision, the Supreme Court ruled that the ordinance surpassed the legitimate grounds of police power, as it interfered with individuals' rights of property. In addition, the court noted that the ordinance neither regulated the race of servants who might be employed in certain areas nor counted them as members of the household. The ruling did not address the right of owners or developers to restrict housing based on private agreements, meaning private housing restrictions against race were legally enforceable. Justice Holmes wrote a draft opinion which suggested the case was "manufactured" by the seller and buyer. He withdrew the dissent and voted with the majority.


See also

*
Civil rights movement (1896–1954) The civil rights movement (1896–1954) was a long, primarily nonviolent action to bring full civil rights and equality under the law to all Americans. The era has had a lasting impact on American society – in its tactics, the increased social ...
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List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 245 This is a list of cases reported in volume 245 of ''United States Reports'', decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1917 and 1918. Justices of the Supreme Court at the time of volume 245 U.S. The Supreme Court is establis ...


References


Further reading

*Bernstein, David E. ''Rehabilitating Lochner: Defending Individual Rights against Progressive Reform.'' Chapter 5. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011. * * *


External links

* * {{US14thAmendment, dueprocess United States equal protection case law 1917 in United States case law United States Supreme Court cases of the White Court History of Louisville, Kentucky Civil rights movement case law United States racial desegregation case law United States Supreme Court cases Zoning in the United States