BOSTON (AP) — The second highest court in Massachusetts will stop using the word “grandfathering” in its decisions because of its racist origins.
The Massachusetts Appeals Court made the decision Monday in a case involving a zoning feud.
“Grandfathering” is often used to explain why new zoning rules do not apply to existing buildings.
Associate Justice James Milkey wrote that the phrase “grandfather clause” is rooted in post-Civil War laws that created barriers to voting for recently freed slaves. He said literacy tests were put into place for the new voters, but the same requirement did not apply to white men descended from voters registered prior to 1867.
