Featured Articles from Inside the ALI
The American Law Institute appropriately describes itself as “the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize, and otherwise improve the law.” From time to time, it is important for the ALI, as for all organizations, to spend time and energy clarifying its own mission. Over the past year, we have devoted significant effort to this important endeavor.
At its January meeting, the Council approved the launch of the final three components of the Restatement Third of Torts. The projects tentatively are titled: Remedies; Defamation and Privacy; and Concluding Provisions. With these projects, the ALI aims to complete an effort that began nearly three decades ago, when we started work on the Restatement of the Law Third, Torts: Products Liability. And when these projects are completed, the ALI will have produced a body of work that entirely supersedes the Restatement Second of Torts.
In an effort to show that the ALI’s influence is not confined to the states, in my last letter I focused on the impact of our work on the development of federal common law, both in the Supreme Court and the U.S. Courts of Appeals. In this letter, I look more specifically at the use of ALI materials by the Supreme Court during the 2013 to 2015 Terms.
More from Inside the ALI
Conflict of Laws in the ALI’s First Century
This essay is part of a forthcoming book about the history of the American Law Institute (ALI), which will be published in 2023, one hundred years after the Institute’s founding. It discusses the ALI’s two Restatements of Conflict of Laws.
Two Important New Projects
This Director’s Letter was originally published in the fall 2022 edition of The ALI Reporter.
Publicizing our Projects
This Director’s Letter was originally published in the fall 2022 edition of The ALI Reporter. The American Law Institute is rightfully known for its deliberative process and the painstaking efforts and contributions of the Reporters, Advisers, Members Consultative Groups, Council, and members who generate our body of work and see our projects through to completion. But what happens next? After our projects are approved, where do they go?
October 2022 Council Meeting Updates
At its meeting on October 20 and 21, 2022, the Council reviewed and discussed Council Drafts of five projects and approved drafts and portions of drafts as listed.
Torts in the American Law Institute
This Article suggests that, in the domain of tort law, The American Law Institute has had important successes when proceeding in the manner of an appellate court, and has courted trouble when operating in the other modes.
The Institute in the Courts: Supreme Court of Nevada Adopts Sections of Restatement of the Law Third, Property (Servitudes)
Recently, in Moretto Trustee of the Jerome F. Moretto 2006 Trust v. ELK Point Country Club Homeowners Ass’n, Inc., 507 P.3d 199 (Nev. 2022), the Supreme Court of Nevada adopted Restatement of the Law Third, Property (Servitudes) §§ 6.7 and 6.9 “to govern issues concerning an association’s authority to enact rules regarding the restriction of individually owned property.”
The Flow of Projects
This Director’s Letter was originally published in the summer 2022 edition of The ALI Reporter. The American Law Institute is defined by its substantive work, principally its Restatements of the Law, its Principles of the Law, and its Model or Uniform Codes. I thought that it would be informative to provide a sense of the flow of our projects during that time. What new projects did we undertake? What projects did we complete? How much are we accomplishing? What is next on the horizon?
ALI Group Cited in Proposals to Reform and Modernize ECA
Two proposals were recently introduced which include legislation to reform and modernize the outdated Electoral Count Act of 1887 to ensure that the electoral votes tallied by Congress accurately reflect each state’s vote for President.
Recognition for Electoral Count Act Reform Principles
A Washington Post article by Richard Hasen on revising the Electoral Count Act (ECA) mentions proposals presented in the Principles for ECA Reform. A recent CBS News article indicates that the senators have reached a general agreement and are working on text.
Project Updates from the 2022 ALI Annual Meeting
Learn more about the actions taken at this year’s ALI Annual Meeting, held last month, where the membership met to discuss and vote on twelve ALI project drafts.
The Institute in the Courts: Court of Appeals of Oregon Cites Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law
In In re C. L. E., 502 P.3d 1154 (Or. Ct. App. 2021), the Court of Appeals of Oregon cited Restatement of the Law, Children and the Law § 15.30 (Tentative Draft No. 2, 2019) (subsequently renumbered as § 13.40), which the membership approved at the 2019 Annual Meeting.
More on the Proposals for Electoral Count Act Reform
At the invitation of The American Law Institute, a group whose members span a range of legal and political views met to consider the way forward on ECA reform. We came to agree on the following principles, distilled from a longer treatment, which could provide a path to bipartisan reform.