Morgan

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER DENYING INJUNC-TIVE RELIEF.

This action, filed on September 25, 1970, is brought under the federal civil rights and declaratory judgment statutes. 42 U.S.C. § 1983 ; 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 , 2202. It asks that the Court permanently enjoin defendants from “harassing” plaintiffs “under the guise of enforcement or authority” of Palo Alto, California, Municipal Code sections 18.-04.210 and 18.88.050. The Court is further asked to declare the cited ordinances unconstitutional.

These are zoning laws. Like most cities, Palo Alto has zoned certain of its neighborhoods “R-l” or “single family residential”. § 18.04.210 defines “family” to mean “one person living alone, or two or more persons related by blood, marriage, or legal adoption, or a group not exceeding four persons living as a single housekeeping unit”. Plaintiffs sue on behalf of themselves and all others who constitute groups of persons, unrelated within the meaning of § 18.04.-210, who inhabit dwellings in “R-l” neighborhoods, though the number of persons in each group exceeds four. Plaintiffs claim that these groups “live together as famil[ies], treating themselves and treated by others as family…