Rowe v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co

In Rowe v. Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (46 NY2d 62 [1978]), a case which considered whether an implied covenant limiting a lessee's power to assign the lease was present in the lease, the Court of Appeals declared: It has long been the law that covenants seeking to limit the right to assign a lease are "restraints which courts do not favor. They are construed with the utmost jealousy, and very easy modes have always been countenanced for defeating them" . This is so because they are restraints on the free alienation of land, and as such they tend to prevent full utilization of the land, which is contrary to the best interests of society (id. at 69.)