The basic approach and format of ALI publications follows a consistent pattern. An expert in the relevant field of law, typically a legal scholar, is designated as reporter. With the assistance of associates, the reporter conducts the foundational research and prepares the initial material.
Restatements of the Law Restatements are essentially codifications of
case law, common law
judge-made doctrines that develop gradually over time because of the principle of
stare decisis. In the nineteenth century many American jurists wanted to codify American law by statute, along the lines of the European civil codes. Some American jurists thought the Restatements might gradually become codifications.
Samuel Williston, for instance, said of the Restatement of Contracts: "This Restatement . . . after [having been] put through the mill, so to speak . . . will serve as a better foundation for a Code than any country has ever had before." Although Restatements are not
binding authority in and of themselves, they are highly
persuasive because they are formulated over several years with extensive input from law professors, practicing attorneys, and judges. They are meant to reflect the consensus of the American legal community as to what the law is (and in some areas, what it should become). All told, the Restatement of the Law is one of the most respected and well-used sources of secondary authority, covering nearly every area of common law.
Restatements are primarily addressed to courts and aim at clear formulations of common law and its statutory elements, and reflect the law as it presently stands or might appropriately be stated by a court. Although Restatements aspire toward the precision of statutory language, they are also intended to reflect the flexibility and capacity for development and growth of the common law. That is why they are phrased in the descriptive terms of a judge announcing the law to be applied in a given case rather than in the mandatory terms of a statute. ALI recently completed the Fourth Restatement of U.S. Foreign Relations Law and the Principles of Election Administration.
Principles of the law Beginning with the Principles of
Corporate Governance (issued in 1994), the American Law Institute issued studies of areas of law thought to need reform. This type of analysis typically results in a publication that recommends changes in the law. Principles of the Law issued so far include volumes on Aggregate Litigation (2010), Family Dissolution (2002), Intellectual Property (2008), Software Contracts (2010), Transnational Civil Procedure (2006; cosponsored by
UNIDROIT), and Transnational Insolvency: Cooperation Among the NAFTA Countries (2003). Work in the Principles of the Law series continues with projects covering Corporate Compliance, Data Privacy, Election Law, and Government Ethics. and is still working on the sexual assault and related offenses project that is re-examining Article 213 of the Model Penal Code. ==Membership==