University of Pennsylvania Finding Aids

The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) was the result of a joint project between the American Law Institute (ALI) and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law (NCCUSL). Work on the UCC began in 1945 in response to a perceived need by members of both ALI and NCCUSL to consolidate a number of uniform laws, previously enacted by NCCUSL, related to commercial transactions. NCCUSL was established in 1891 for the purpose of codifying state law by creating uniform laws and model acts. ALI was founded in 1923 in response to a perceived uncertainty and complexity in American Law. The Institute had previously developed a codification of particular areas of the law, known as the Restatement of the Law. Thus, cooperation between ALI and NCCUSL on the UCC presented a likely partnership. The first version of the UCC was approved in 1951. Over the next few years, the states responded to, analyzed, and amended the UCC. In 1961, the Permanent Editorial Board was established to review and help revise the UCC on a continual basis in accordance with the evolving culture of commercial transactions. As a result, the revision of the Uniform Commercial is an ongoing cooperative project between ALI and NCCUSL. The collection, 1935-2003, include historical records, drafts, comments, correspondence, and other materials related to the creation of the Uniform Commercial Code, which consolidated and codified previous uniform laws related to commercial transaction.

In the midst of World War II, the American Law Institute convened a committee in 1941 to study the international community's position regarding human rights law. The committee's charge was to develop a Statement of Essential Human Rights. William Draper Lewis, then Director of the American Law Institute, was chair of the committee and the project's most outspoken advocate, touring the world to deliver speeches on the importance of a code of basic human rights. International in scope and in participation, the committee included representatives from Britain, Canada, China, France, pre-Nazi Germany, Italy, India, Latin America, Poland, Soviet Russia, Spain, and Syria. A version of the Statement of Essential Human Rights was finalized in 1945. The collection, 1929-1987 and undated, includes research material, constitutions, letters, conference and meeting material, drafts, publications, the writings of William Draper Lewis, and other records related to the drafting of the Statement of Essential Human Rights, finalized in 1945. The bulk of the records spans the years 1941 to 1945.

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.

In 1934, the American Law Institute (ALI) started publishing volumes entitled The Restatement in the Courts, a supplemental tool that provided references to court decisions that had cited the ALI's Restatements of the Law. The collection, 1937-1976, includes editions of The Restatement in the Courts and undated indices.

The Model Penal Code, first completed in 1962 and revised and expanded over the next 20 years, played an important role in the revision and codification of criminal law. The Chief Reporter on the project was Herbert Wechsler. A Criminal Law Advisory Committee was established to provide the reportorial staff with guidance in the drafting of the Code. A Proposed Official Draft was published in 1962. This version generated wide response among legislatures and courts, prompting a revision and expansion of the code's commentaries that began in 1976. A final version of the Model Penal Code, with revised commentaries, was published in 1985. The Code proved to be particularly influential in the areas of jurisdiction, double jeopardy, responsibility, criminal attempts, theft, abortion, obscenity, sentencing, and capital punishment. The collection, 1942-1985, includes correspondence, meeting materials, proceedings, drafts, reports, reference materials, published versions, citations, and related records regarding the drafting of the Model Penal Code, which consolidated and codified previous legislation and judicial opinions related to criminal law.

In the course of establishing what would become the First Restatement of the Law, the American Law Institute (ALI) considered including a clarification of the Law of Evidence. However, due to perceived deficiencies in the law, the American Law Institute resolved to begin a project that would provide a thorough reworking of the existing law of evidence. In 1939, the ALI secured funding to develop such a project. Edmund M. Morgan served as Reporter, and John H. Wigmore served as Chief Consultant. The resulting body of law was the Model Code of Evidence, adopted by the ALI in May 1942. The collection, 1939-1954, includes correspondence, meeting minutes, drafts, memoranda, commentary, outside publications, and related material concerning the drafting and adoption of the Model Code of Evidence, an effort to standardize common-law evidence rules.

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 (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.

The Federal Income, State, and Gift Tax Project consisted of a series of non-binding recommendations to students, teachers, litigators, and legislators as they dealt with the evolving tax code. The collection, 1946-1981 (bulk: 1949-1969), includes correspondence, meeting minutes, drafts, memoranda, commentary, outside publications, and related records concerning various tax-related projects conducted by the ALI from the mid-1940s to 1969.

The Executive Office of the American Law Institute (ALI) performs the organization's major administrative functions, including fundraising, negotiating publication of ALI materials, and coordinating ALI projects. With most of the Reporters located at institutions all over the world, the office also serves as the central depository for the collection of records related to ALI projects. The collection, 1923-1999, primarily includes letters written by and received from staff in the ALI's Executive Office, including the Director and Deputy Director. For more detailed information about the scope and content of this collection, please consult the individual series.

In 1938, the American Law Institute (ALI) formed the Criminal Justice--Youth Committee to review the findings of a New York City study of criminal behavior among young people called "Youth in the Toils." The culmination of the committee's work was the Model Youth Correction Authority Act, a model act that favored the integration of a number of youth treatment processes already employed by various states. The committee also proposed the creation of a Youth Authority, a state-wide panel that would handle sentencing guidelines, with an emphasis on treatment and not punishment, for all underage criminal offenders. Following the Model Youth Corrections Authority Act's promulgation in 1940, the ALI appointed a special adviser, John R. Ellingston, to help states adopt Youth Authority legislation. This outreach effort was known as the Youth Authority Program. The Youth Authority Program lasted until 1951. The collection, 1935-1959, includes background information, correspondence, meeting minutes, drafts, comments, memoranda, reports, publications, and related material regarding the drafting of the Model Youth Correction Authority Act, adopted by the ALI in 1940, and the Youth Authority Program, an initiative that encouraged state adoption of the Youth Authority legislation.

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 collection, 1924-2003, includes minutes, correspondence, reports, and related records regarding the activity of the American Law Institute Council.

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 collection, 1922-2004, includes minutes, correspondence, reports, and related records regarding the activity of the American Law Institute's Executive Committee, Finance and Development Committee, Investment Committee, and Membership Committee.

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." To that end, the ALI has held annual meetings since its inception to adopt its restatements and other codification projects, discuss drafts, analyze pending legislation and aspects of the law, set policy, and initialize new projects. The collection, 1923-1995, includes correspondence, addresses and remarks, reports on codification projects and other ALI-related activity, annual meeting programs, yearbooks, proceedings, and related records regarding activity at the ALI's annual 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." To that end, the ALI has held annual meetings since its inception to adopt its restatements and other codification projects, discuss drafts, analyze pending legislation and aspects of the law, set policy, and initialize new projects. The collection, 1923-1995, includes correspondence, addresses and remarks, reports on codification projects and other ALI-related activity, annual meeting programs, yearbooks, proceedings, and related records regarding activity at the ALI's annual meetings.

The American Law Institute (ALI) was founded in 1923 in response to a perceived uncertainty and complexity in American law. An association of practitioners and scholars known as the “Committee on the Establishment of a Permanent Organization for Improvement of Law” published a study that recommended a lawyers’ organization be formed to improve the law and its administration. The committee was chaired by Elihu Root and counted Learned Hand, Benjamin Cardozo, and Samuel Williston among its members. This photograph collection is comprised of portraits of ALI directors, presidents, members, and staff. Also included are photographs from the Annual Meeting, including the 1st Annual Meeting in 1923.

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