Hansberry v. Lee

Infobox SCOTUS case
Litigants = Hansberry v. Lee
ArgueDate = October 25
ArgueYear = 1940
DecideDate = November 12
DecideYear = 1940
FullName = Hansberry, et al. v. Lee, et al.
USVol = 311
USPage = 32
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SCOTUS = 1940-1941
Majority = Stone
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"Hansberry v. Lee", ussc|311|32|1940, is a famous case now usually known in civil procedure for teaching that "res judicata" may not bind a subsequent plaintiff who had no opportunity to be represented in the earlier civil action. The facts of the case dealt with a racially restrictive covenant amongst members of a class, which would have called for excluding Carl Hansberry, the father of author Lorraine Hansberry. The defendants asserted that since Hansberry was a class member, he should be bound by the prior decision. Justice Harlan Fiske Stone held that since he didn't have an opportunity to be heard, enforcing that racial covenant would deny him his due process rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment.

Later, the type of real property restriction, racially restrictive covenants, was held by "Shelley v. Kraemer", ussc|334|1|1948, to be state action because the plaintiffs seeking to enforce such a covenant were invoking the machinery of the state.

ee also

*List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 311

Further reading

* cite journal | last = Kamp | first = Allen R. | authorlink = | coauthors = | year = 1986 | month = | title = The History Behind "Hansberry v. Lee" | journal = U.C. Davis Law Review | volume = 20 | issue = | pages = 481 | id = | url = http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/issues/Vol20/Issue3/DavisVol20No3_Kamp.pdf | accessdate = | quote =