University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The American Law Institute (ALI) was founded in 1923 in response to a perceived uncertainty and complexity in American law. Former Penn Law Dean William Draper Lewis was the Institute's first director, running the organization's operations out of his campus office. The ALI was conceived as a representative gathering of the American Bar (including Judges, Lawyers, and Law Professors) for the stated mission "to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work." The ALI worked on the First Restatement of the Law from 1923-1944. The project attempted to clarify nine broad subject areas of law: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Judgments, Property, Restitution, Security, Torts, and Trusts. Two other subject areas, Business Associations and Sales of Land, were explored but never officially adopted by the ALI. The final draft of the restatement was approved at the ALI Annual meeting in May 1942. The collection, 1923-1959 and undated, includes drafts, comments, correspondence, meeting minutes, state annotations, and other materials related to the First Restatement of the Law, which sought to codify and simplify the law. Nine broad subject areas include: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Judgments, Property, Restitution, Security, Torts, and Trusts. Official Institute drafts make up the bulk of the collection. State annotations constitute the second largest portion, while the remainder of the collection consists of correspondence from and to reporters about the restatements.

Following the publication of the First Restatement of the Law, in 1936 the American Law Institute (ALI) held a series of meetings and published a series of reports that considered what additional areas of the law might be selected for future restatement projects. Work on the project continued into the mid-1940s. Many fields were considered, but only a few were actually selected for inclusion in future restatement projects. The collection, 1929-1968 and undated (bulk: 1929-1948), includes correspondence, reports, memoranda, and other records related to areas of the law up for consideration for future restatement projects, including business associations, industrial relations, and monopolies.

The American Law Institute has often recorded its meetings, during which its members discuss topics related to the governance and projects of the Institute. The collection 1958-1992, contains reel-to-reel audiotapes of American Law Institute Annual Meetings, Council Meetings, and project meetings.

The American Law Institute (ALI) was founded in 1923 in response to a perceived uncertainty and complexity in American law. Former Penn Law Dean William Draper Lewis was the Institute's first director, running the organization's operations out of his campus office. The ALI was conceived as a representative gathering of the American Bar (including Judges, Lawyers, and Law Professors) for the stated mission "to promote the clarification and simplification of the law and its better adaptation to social needs, to secure the better administration of justice and to encourage and carry on scholarly and scientific legal work." The Second Restatement of the Law was an update to the American Law Institute's initial project, the First Restatement of the Law. The project secured initial funding through a Mellon grant in 1952 and was completed in 1988. The Second Restatement of the Law attempted to refine the clarification of nine broad subject areas of law: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Foreign Relations Law, Judgments, Property, Restitution, Torts, and Trusts. The ALI added two principal areas to the Second Restatement projects: Foreign Relations Law, and Landlord and Tenant Relations. The collection, 1947-1990 and undated, includes drafts, comments, correspondence, meeting minutes, state annotations, and other materials related to the Second Restatement of the Law, which sought to improve upon the codification project first established in the First Restatement of the Law. Nine broad subject areas include: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Foreign Relations Law, Judgments, Property, Restitution, Torts, and Trusts. Official Institute drafts make up the bulk of the collection. State annotations constitute the second largest portion, while the remainder of the collection consists of correspondence to and from reporters about the restatements, comments from ALI members and outside experts, and related material.