At its meeting on January 22 and 23, 2026, the ALI Council discussed drafts of six projects as listed below; it approved, in part or in whole, five of those drafts.*
Conflict of Laws
The Council approved Council Draft No. 11, containing Chapter 7, Property, Topic 4, Trusts; three sections from Chapter 8, Contracts, on contracts for the sale of real-property interests (§ 8.09), capacity to contract (§ 8.13), and the requirements of a writing and other formalities (§ 8.14); and the Introductory Note to and four sections from Chapter 11, Business Organizations, on the internal affairs rule for corporations and other organizations.
Election Litigation
The Council discussed Council Draft No. 1, consisting of the Introductory Note to and the entirety of Chapter 1, General Provisions, except for § 1.09 (Resolution of Disputes), for which a placeholder was provided. The chapter covers the nature of an election (§§ 1.01–1.03), voting and the process of elections (§§ 1.04–1.10), and the presumptive rules governing election disputes (§§ 1.11–1.14). The Reporters will revise the sections for consideration by the Council at a future meeting.
The Foreign Relations Law of the United States
The Council approved the following provisions of Council Draft No. 1: the Introductory Note to and six sections from Part III, Chapter 2, Executive Agreements and Nonbinding Instruments—covering the status of executive agreements in international law (§ 321), agreements authorized or approved by Congress (§ 322), agreements authorized by treaty (§ 323), agreements based on the President’s independent constitutional authority (§ 324), nonbinding instruments (§ 325), and reporting, publication, and coordination of executive agreements and nonbinding instruments (§ 326)—and four sections from Part IV, Chapter 7, Privileges and Immunities of Foreign Officials and Diplomatic and Consular Premises, on the privileges and immunities of diplomatic agents, consular officers, and diplomatic missions and consular posts (§§ 471, 472, and 474) and consular notification and access (§ 473). The Reporters will revise the four sections from Part I, Chapter 1, Constitutional Structure: Separation of Powers and Federalism—on the authority of Congress and the President over foreign affairs (§ 101), congressional delegations of foreign-affairs authority (§ 102), international agreement-making by U.S. States (§ 104), and preemption of U.S. State law (§ 105)—for consideration by the Council at a future meeting.
High-Volume Civil Adjudication
The Council approved the following provisions of Council Draft No. 4: Chapter 2, General Principles of Procedure in High-Volume Civil Adjudication, §§ 2.01–2.03, on the goals of procedure, tailored procedure and case management, and meaningful participation; Chapter 4, Pleading and Information Exchange, §§ 4.07 and 4.08, on court access to official data and the implementation of rules governing pleading and information exchange; and Chapter 5, Hearings, § 5.05, on the factual record and evidence. The Council also discussed Chapter 6, Settlement, which the Reporters will revise for consideration by the Council at a future meeting. Due to time constraints, the Council did not discuss § 2.04, on procedure and vulnerable parties, or § 2.05, on open courts and law development.
Property
The Council approved Council Draft No. 13, containing Volume 4, Division II, Chapter 4, on tenancy by the entirety, and Volume 5, Division V, Chapters 3 and 4, on the mortgagor’s equity of redemption and mortgage substitutes and on the rights and duties of the parties prior to foreclosure.
Torts: Remedies
The Council approved Council Draft No. 5, containing Chapter 1, Compensatory Damages, Topic 3, Damage to Property and to Financial Interests. The Council also approved edits to Section 6, Scope of Liability (Proximate Cause), which state that, when the Restatement Third, Torts fails to state a scope-of-liability rule for a tort or harm, the scope-of-liability rules of the Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm Restatement apply.
If you would like more information on any of the drafts or projects, please contact us at communications@ali.org.
* All approvals are subject to the discussion at the meeting and the usual editorial prerogative.