This is a very simple question, so I'll keep it really brief: How can I tell if a particular DOM element's CSS property is inherited? Reason why I'm asking is because with jQuery 's css method it will return the computed style, which inherits the parent object's CSS properties. Is there a way to retrieve the properties set on the object itself? An example might explain what I'm getting at a bit better: CSS: div#container { color:#fff; } HTML: <div id="container"> Something that should be interesting <div class="black"> Some other thing that should be interesting </div> </div> So, in the instance of div.black , which inherits color , how can I tell if it is inherited? $('div.black:eq(0)').css('color') will obviously give me #fff , but I want to retrieve the style of the element itself , not its parents. EDIT : To clarify, my question is how can I detect if a given CS...