A Change to the Restatement Series Numbering System

The American Law Institute has changed its system of numbering series of the Restatements of the Law. This change only effects current Restatement projects and all those moving forward. All previous numbered series remain as they are.

ALI, founded in 1923, published its first Restatement in 1932. The "first series" of Restatements covered nine subjects and the last subject of the first series was published in 1942. As work on the first series came to a close, ALI members discussed implementing a project to update the first series. These updates were grouped as the "second series". Nine subjects were covered in the second series and were published from 1958 to 1992. Not all subjects from the first series were updated with the second series. Additionally, the second series includes subjects not covered in the first series.

Beginning with the second series, ALI changed some of its practices. When warranted, a subject was divided, thus producing multiple titles under the same main subject category. For the second series, only Property was effected in this way, producing two Restatement of Property titles: Donative Transfers and Landlord and Tenant. This practice of expanding a subject by dividing it into multiple titles gained traction in the third series. ALI published its first "third series" subject in 1987. To date, thirteen subjects have been published under the third series. ALI continued the practice of dividing a subject into multiple parts in the third series: Property has three separate titles (Mortgages, Servitudes, and Wills and Other Donative Transfers), and Torts also has three separate titles (Apportionment of Liability, Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm, and Products Liability).

Going forward, ALI is implementing a new system for categorizing subjects by "series". ALI is no longer grouping series by publication date. Instead, all new Restatement subjects will begin as the first series of that subject. Subsequent versions will be labeled as the second series, third series, etc. The first Restatement project to be affected by this change is Employment Law, a recently completed project whose official text was published this summer. Three Restatement projects in various stages of development, but not yet finalized, have also been affected by this numbering change: Consumer Contracts, The Law of American Indians, and The U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration. These projects, as well as all new projects and those projects converted from Principles to Restatements, will begin without a series number and subsequent versions will be titled second series, third series, etc.

Prior completed Restatement projects will retain their numbered status. Current and future projects relating to subjects already completed will be numbered by the next sequential series. For example, The Foreign Relations Law of the United States has no first series but a completed second and third series, making the current Foreign Relations Law project numbered as the fourth series. And Conflict of Laws has a completed first and second series, so the current Conflict of Laws project is numbered as the third series.

For more information regarding this change, see the Fall/Winter 2014 issue of The ALI Reporter. Questions regarding the change should be directed to ALI.

Jenkins' members can access the Restatements of the Law in print, on HeinOnline, and on the library's WestlawNext computers. Drafts of completed projects as well as current projects are also available. See our Restatements and Principles of the Law Resource Guide for more information.