Grandfather clause, in modern law, refers to any legal provision that excuses an individual or corporation from a requirement or prohibition because the person or corporation has enjoyed a certain privilege or right at some time in the past. For example, a law that requires teachers to be certified may include a grandfather clause that allows teachers working when the law was passed to continue teaching without certification.
In United States history, grandfather clause also refers to a legal provision used by some Southern states after 1890 to deny voting rights to African Americans. To keep African Americans from voting, these states adopted strict literacy tests for all people who wanted to vote. Most Black people failed the tests. But so did many white people. As a result, the states adopted grandfather clauses. These clauses set aside the literacy requirement for certain groups—groups that included almost no Black citizens. For example, Louisiana’s clause gave voting rights to people who were eligible to vote, or whose direct ancestors were eligible, on Jan. 1, 1867. At that time, few of the state’s Black residents could vote. The U.S. Supreme Court declared such grandfather clauses unconstitutional in 1915 and 1939.
