Court Opinion

ID: 9553177
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 19:24:41.388385+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:30:09.204988
License: Public Domain

KAUFMAN, J.
I concur on the authority of Rice v. Sioux City Memorial Park Cemetery, - Iowa - [60 N.W.2d 110], where the Supreme Court of Iowa construed the Iowa civil rights statute which is very similar to sections 51 and 52 of the Civil Code of California and determined questions of constitutional law involved.
The court held that a provision in a contract for the purchase of a burial lot in a private cemetery permitting only members of the Caucasian race to be buried therein was not void as being violative of equal protection clauses of either federal or state Constitutions and is not void as being violative of public policy. Further, that Iowa’s civil rights statute was not violated.
I also agree with the view that sections 51 and 52 of our Civil Code only apply to living citizens of this state. Plaintiff was not denied the right to enter the cemetery but was merely refused permission to bury her husband in the cemetery. *330Accordingly no rights given to plaintiff by sections 51 and 52 of the Civil Code have been violated by defendant.