grandfather clause
noun
plural grandfather clauses
: a clause creating an exemption based on circumstances previously existing
Hospital officials have asked for a grandfather clause for their heliports because without it, proposed zoning regulations would eliminate all city hospital helicopters.—Dan Donovan
… his plan contained a grandfather clause. The fees would only apply to incoming students.—Scott Sherman
… a friend, who is a landlord, started talking about "grandfather clauses" that would exempt him from making renovations when she asked him about making an apartment accessible.—Mary Grimley Mason
specifically
: a provision in several southern state constitutions designed to enfranchise poor white people and disenfranchise Black people by waiving high voting requirements for descendants of men voting before 1867
Several states, including Louisiana, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, inserted "grandfather clauses" in their constitutions in order to permit persons, who could not otherwise qualify, to vote if their fathers or grandfathers could vote in 1866. —John Hope Franklin
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Merriam-Webster unabridged
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