grandfather clause
A clause or section, especially in a law, granting exceptions for people or…A clause or section, especially in a law, granting exceptions for people or organisations who were affected by previous conditions.
Meaning
1 sensesA clause or section, especially in a law, granting exceptions for people or organisations who were affected by previous conditions.
Many building codes include a grandfather clause exempting older buildings until some amount of remodeling occurs.
Bestandsschutz, Bestandsschutzregelung, Besitzstandsregelung
- an exemption based on circumstances existing prior to the adoption of some policy; used to enfranchise illiterate whites in south after the American Civil War
Translations
2 languagesBy meaning 1
Origin
From late 19th-century legislation and constitutional amendments passed by a number of U.SFrom late 19th-century legislation and constitutional amendments passed by a number of U.S. Southern states, which created new literacy and property restrictions on voting, but exempted those whose grandfathers had the right to vote before the American Civil War. The intent and effect of such rules was to prevent poor and illiterate African American former slaves and their descendants from voting, but without denying poor and illiterate whites the right to vote.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: grandfather clauses| Singular | grandfather clause |
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regular
Word family
2 related wordsSee also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.