116 Yale L.J. 1302 (2007)

This Note provides a detailed history of the use of restrictive covenants in Beaver Hills, a planned residential subdivision built in New Haven between 1908 and the end of the 1930s. It analyzes these covenants in light of both the relevant common law of servitudes and the contemporary evolution of public land use regulation, most notably zoning. These analyses reveal that restrictive covenants in this era are best understood as a form of signaling and social norms rather than as a form of private law.