Restatements of the Law

Description (from Harvard Law School Library): “Restatements are highly regarded distillations of common law. They are prepared by the American Law Institute (ALI), a prestigious organization comprised of judges, professors, and lawyers. The ALI's aim is to distill the "black letter law" from cases, to indicate a trend in common law, and, occasionally, to recommend what a rule of law should be. In essence, they "restate" existing common law into a series of principles or rules.”

Coverage: “Restatements cover broad topics, such as Contracts or Property. They are organized into chapter, title, and section. Sections contain a concisely stated rule of law as well as comments to clarify the rule, provide hypothetical examples, explain its purpose, and provide exceptions. Restatements in and of themselves are not primary law. However, due to the prestige of the ALI, and its painstaking drafting and adoption process, Restatements are considered persuasive authority by many courts. Numerous Restatement sections have become primary law when a court or legislature has adopted its language. As of March of 1999, courts had cited Restatement sections 144,629 times. The most heavily cited were the Restatement of Torts and the Restatement of Contracts.”

Organization: “Each Restatement begins with an introduction and a table of contents. The treatment of the material closely resembles that of a hornbook. First there is a statement of principle, then there is a comment that explains the principle, and lastly there are illustrations of how the principle is applied. Each Restatement has its own detailed index.”

ALI: “The ALI provides on its website information regarding the status of Restatement drafts, ALI membership, history and institutional processes.” See for example the "Publications Catalog" or "ALI Library" (select both from the menu on the left side of the ALI site) for details. “The ALI also initiates and completes important projects in addition to the Restatements. These include Model Codes, Uniform Laws, and other projects such as the Complex Litigation Project, the Federal Income Tax Project, and the Corporate Governance Project.”

Online Access: The Restatements can be found in both Westlaw (REST) and Lexis (2NDARY/RESTAT, EDLAW/RESTAT, or LITGAT/RESTAT). Department of Labor employees can contact the Law Library for assistance with these and other proprietary resources.

Wirtz Labor Law Library's Print Collection of Restatements: All of the following multi-volume titles are located in the Law Library's Treatises section. Many have annual updates (also called pocket parts or supplements) tucked into the back cover of the last volume in the set.

Restatement Title	Call Number
Agency, 2d	KF 1345. A764
Conflict of Laws, 2d	KF 411. A47
Contracts, 2d	KF 801. R842
Foreign Relations Law of the United States, 3d	KF 4651. R47
Judgments, 2d	KF 8990. R48
Law Governing Lawyers, 3d	KF 300. R469
Property 1st	KF 570. R47
Property, Landlord and Tenant, 2d	KF 590. A84
Property, Donative Transfers, 2d	KF 613. R47
Property, Wills and Other Donative Transfers, 3d	KF 755. R48
Property, Mortgages, 3d	KF 695. R435
Property, Servitudes, 3d	KF 675. R475
Restatement in the Courts, Permanent Edition 1932-1944	KF 395.A3 R48
Restatement in the Courts, Supplements	KF 395.A3 R47
Restitution, Quasi Contracts & Constructive Trusts	KF 1244. R46
Security	KF 1050. R47
Suretyship and Guaranty, 3d	KF 1045. R457
Torts, 2d	KF 1249.A4 R47
Torts, Apportionment of Liability, 3d	KF 1312. R469
Torts, Products Liability, 3d	KF 1296. R467
Trusts, 2d	KF 730. R47
Trusts, 3d	KF 730. R47
Trusts, Prudent Investor Rule, 3d	KF 730. R47
Trusts, General Principles, 3d (tentative draft)	KF 730. R47
Unfair Competition, 3d	KF 3195. R468