Discussion topic to discuss re property is the the effect of the Civil Rights Act/
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 (that’s right, 1866, not 1966) made it a violation of federal law to discriminate because of race in the selling, leasing or buying of real property. This act went so far as to include ALL real property, public and private, including (specifically) residential property owners who wished to lease a unit as small as a single room even in the private owner’s personal residence. This act could not have been clearer in its language, intent, purpose and scope, yet it was immediately deemed unenforceable by its critics and was generally considered a failed statute and not enforced. This lead to the Fair Housing Act of 1968 which the observant reader would recognize as simply a modern redrafting of the 1866 legislation. This act has been deemed spectacularly successful. Why the difference between success of the statutes? Is it possible to write good legislation that is simply too far ahead of its time and therefore unenforceable? On the whole, should the law lead society by dragging the leash or wait until society has made clear that it is willing to comply?