Barrows et al. v. Jackson (346 U.S. 249)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 15, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 346 U.S. 249 · 73 S. Ct. 1031
- Docket
- No. 517
- Argued
- April 28, 1953
- Decided
- June 15, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 6–1
- Majority author
- Justice Minton
- Issue area
- Civil Rights
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Minton (wrote), Justice Clark, Justice Burton, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Black
- Dissenting
- Chief Justice Vinson (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Minton delivered the opinion of the Court. This Court held in Shelley v. Kraemer, 334 U. S. 1, that racial restrictive covenants could not be enforced in equity against Negro purchasers because such enforcement would constitute state action denying equal protection of the laws to the Negroes, in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Federal Constitution. The question we now have is: Can such a restrictive covenant be enforced at law by a suit for damages against a co-covenantor who allegedly broke the covenant? Petitioners sued respondent at law for damages for breach of a restrictive covenant the parties entered into as owners of residential real estate in the same neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The petitioners’ complaint alleged in part: “That by the terms of said Agreement each of the signers promised and agreed in writing and bound himself, his heirs, executors, administrators, successors, and assigns, by a continuing covenant that no part of his said real property, described therein, should ever at any time be used or occupied by any person or persons not wholly of the white or Caucasian race, and also agreed and promised in writing that this restriction should be incorporated in all papers and transfers of lots or parcels of land here-inabove referred to; provided, however, that said restrictions should not prevent the employment by the…
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