AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE

The American Law Institute was founded in 1923, in order to gather, synthesize, organize and simplify
the common law of the United States. The primary tools it uses to attempt these goals are the Restatement
of the Law and the Restatement of the Law 2d. Eight of the original Restatement have been reissued in
Restatement 2d. Restatement of the Law 3rd covers "The Foreign Relations Law of the United States".
Restatement, 3d, of Trusts (Prudent Investor Rule) is a partial revision of the Restatement, 2d, of Trusts.

In addition to the Restatements, the Institute has generated Preliminary Drafts, Council Study Drafts,
Council Drafts, Tentative Drafts and Proposed Final Drafts for each of the Restatement of the Law, and
Restatement of the Law 2d and 3d subject areas. All of these drafts for the first Restatement are included
in the Hein Microfiche set. See below.

RESTATEMENTS OF THE LAW

The subjects covered in the Restatements are: Agency, Conflict of Laws, Contracts, Foreign Relations
Law of the U.S., Judgments, Law Governing Lawyers (Tentative Drafts), Property, Property 2d Donative
Transfers, Property 2d Landlord and Tenant, Property 3d Security (Mortgages) (Tentative Drafts),
Restitution, Security, Torts, Trusts, and Unfair Competition (Tentative Drafts).

A Restatement attempts to gather and synthesize the case law on a topic, to organize it, and to present the
"rules" distilled from the cases. These "rules" are the Institute's attempt of providing "black letter law".
Each restated subject area is divided into chapters, and further divided into topics and sections; the
sections represent the "black letter law". Typical sections contain the rule of law, comments and
illustrations used to clarify the rule, and major exceptions to the rule.

ACCESSING THE RESTATEMENTS

Each Restatement volume has its own index, and there is a one volume, comprehensive index covering all
of the Restatement of the Law (first). A comprehensive index is planned for the Restatement 2d, to be
issued after the set is completed. The Restatements may also be accessed by topic, using the Table of
Contents in each volume.

Additional case annotations to Restatements are provided by supplements, hardbound volumes entitled
Restatement in the Courts, through 1976. Since 1976, the annotations appear in appendixes specific to
each restated subject area. These too, are hardbound. These appendixes contain West Digest Key
Numbers and citations to Lawyers Co-op American Law Reports. The appendixes are updated with the
pocket supplements and paper pamphlets titled Restatement in the Courts.

The latest edition of The American Law Institute's publication service is Interim Case Citations to The
Restatement of the Law. This semiannual pamphlet is to be used in conjunction with the current
Cumulative Annual Supplements and Pocket Parts. The Interim Case Citation provides the user with the
Restatement section cited, a description of how the Restatement was applied in the case, the case name,
the case citation, the pages on which the Restatement was cited, the name of the court rendering the
decision, and the year of the decision.

Another tool which updates the Restatement is Shepard's Restatement of the Law Citations. Used as any
other Shepard's, this tool provides citations to cases that appear in the National Reporter System. It is
shelved with the Shepard's.

Articles covering Restatements can be located by using the Index to Legal Periodicals on CD-ROM. The
Current Law Index is in print format and lists articles under both "American Law Institute", and under the
names of the individual Restatements.