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American Law Institute Second Restatement of the Law records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library [Contact Us]3460 Chestnut Street, Biddle Law Library, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3406
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
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 Second Restatement of Law Records, 1947-1990 and undated, include 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 (also known as Landlord and Tenant Law), 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.
- Agency
- Conflict of Laws
- Contracts
- Foreign Relations
- Judgments
- Property
- Restitution
- Torts
- Trusts
First shipment received from the American Law Institute in 1995.
Processed by Melissa Backes, 1995-2005.
Reprocessed by Jordon Steele, with assistance from Ryan Gebhardt, April-May 2007.
Encoded by Jordon Steele, May 2008.
People
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library
- Finding Aid Author
- Jordon Steele (2008); Abigail Boyer (2023)
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008; revised 2023
- Access Restrictions
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None.
- Use Restrictions
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The archives reserves the right to restrict access to materials of sensitive nature. Please contact the department for further information.
Collection Inventory
Meeting minutes, drafts, state annotations, student editions, correspondence, publications, and other material related to topics including creation of relation, creation and interpretation of authority and apparent authority, ratification, termination of agency powers, liability of principal to third persons regarding contracts and conveyances and torts, admissibility of evidence of statements of agents, liability of third person to principal, liability of agent to third person, liability of third person to agent, duties and liabilities of agent to principal, and duties and liabilities of principal to agent. Reporters who worked on this subject included Warren A. Seavey. The final version of this restatement was adopted on May 23, 1957.
Meeting minutes, drafts, comments, student editions, correspondence, and other material related to topics including domicil, judicial jurisdictions, limitations on the exercise of judicial jurisdiction, judgments, procedure, wrongs, contracts, property, trusts, status, agency and partnerships, business corporations, and administration of estates. Reporters who worked on this subject included Willis L.M. Reese and Austin W. Scott. The final version of this restatement was adopted on May 23, 1969.
Meeting minutes, drafts, comments, correspondence, and other material related to topics including formation of contracts ( parties and capacity), formation of contracts ( mutual assent); formation of contracts ( consideration); the statute of frauds; mistake, misrepresentation, duress, and undue influence; unenforceability on grounds of public policy; the scope of contractual obligations; performance and non-performance; impracticability of performance and frustration of purpose; joint and several promisors and promisees; contract beneficiaries, assignment and delegation; and remedies. Reporters and other participants who worked on this subject included Herbert F. Goodrich, Robert Braucher, Paul A. Wolkin, E. Allan Farnsworth, and Arthur Corbin. The final version of this restatement was adopted on May 17, 1979.
Meeting records, drafts, subject files, correspondence, publications, and other records related to topics including jurisdiction, recognition, international agreements, and responsibilities of states for injuries to undocumented individuals. Reporters and other participants who worked on this subject included I.N.P. Stokes, Arnold D. McNair, Benjamin Kaplan, and David J. Shapiro, Covey T. Oliver, and Adrian S. Fisher. The final version of this restatement was adopted on May 26, 1962, with revisions accepted in 1964 and 1965.
In the Foreign Relations series, the term alien is used to describe undocumented individuals. The Biddle Law Library Archives and Special Collections recognizes that this term is outdated and offensive, and it was decided to retain the use of the term as a folder title as the term is what the creators used to describe the rights of undocumented individuals when the materials were created.
Meeting records, drafts, correspondence, and other records related to topics including validity of judgments, former adjudication, the effects of a judicial judgement, parties and other persons affected by judgments, relief from a judgment, and special problems deriving from nature of forum rendering judgment. Reporters and other participants who worked on this subject included Geoffrey C. Hazard, Benjamin Kaplan, and David L. Shapiro. The final version of this restatement was adopted on June 12, 1980.
Drafts, commentaries, student editions, and other records related to topics including social restrictions of donative transfers, direct restraints on alienation in donative transfers, provisions in restraint of personal conduct, restraints on interference with transferor's dispositive plan, and landlord and tenant relations. Participants who worked on this subject included Richard V. Wellman. The final version of this restatement was adopted on May 19, 1981.
Drafts, commentaries, and other records related to topics including remedies, constructive trust, and equitable liens, subrogation. The reporter for this project was William F. Young.
Meeting records, drafts, student editions, correspondence, and other records related to topics including intentional harms to persons, land, and chattels; negligence; strict liability; misrepresentation; defamation; injurious falsehood; privacy; unjustifiable litigation; interference in domestic relations; interference with advantageous economic relations; invasions of interests in land other than by trespass; defenses applicable to all tort claims; and remedies. Reporters and participants who worked on this subject included William L. Prosser, John W. Wade, and Michael I. Sovern.
Meeting records, drafts, state annotations, correspondence, and other material related to topics including the creation of a trust, the trust property, the trustee, the beneficiary, transfer of interest of the beneficiary, administration of the trust, liabilities to third persons, liabilities of third persons, termination and modification of the trust, charitable trusts, and resulting trusts. Reporters and participants who worked on this subject included Austin W. Scott and Herbert F. Goodrich. The final version of this restatement was adopted on May 23, 1957.