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Restatements of the Law: A "How to" Guide: How do I use the Restatements?

A research guide on how to use the American Law Institute's Restatements of the Law.

How do I use the Restatements?

You can use the Restatements:

  • To support a legal argument which has not been addressed by the courts in a particular jurisdiction
  • To identify relevant key cases in a particular jurisdiction
  • To gain an understanding of the policies which underline the rule of law

*Not all Restatements are the same.  Some are cited more frequently than others.  Similarly, not all courts treat the Restatements in the same way.  Make sure you understand how the courts in your jurisdiction and in other jurisdictions have received and interpreted the Restatement volume upon which you are relying. 

Tip:  To see how a particular jurisdiction treats a volume of the Restatements, run a "Terms and Connectors" search (in either Westlaw Precision or Lexis+) in a state or federal case law database using your keywords.  For example, use these keywords "Restatement w/4 contracts" to determine how courts assess the Restatement of Contracts.

How do I research within the Restatements?

Online

Using the Restatements in Westlaw Precision, Lexis+, and HeinOnline is fairly straightforward.  You can either run a keyword search in all of the Restatement volumes or run a keyword search in an individual restated subject.  When you select a specific Restatement, you can also browse its table of contents if you do not know which keywords to use in a search.

In Westlaw Precision and in Lexis+, identifying relevant cases is a quick process. You can KeyCite or Shepardize a section or a rule of law.

Print

Each Restatement volume has its own index and there is a comprehensive index covering the complete set of the Restatement of the Law (First).  Once the Restatement of the Law (Second) is completed, ALI is planning to create a comprehensive index for that set as well. To use the index, identify which restated subject is relevant for your issue and then identify keywords that describe your legal issue. Look up those keywords in the index to locate the appropriate section. Each restated subject also contains a table of contents through which you can browse to identify sections relevant to your legal query.

To identify pertinent cases, ALI publishes case summaries or annotations.  These annotations can be found in the main volume, its pocket part, separate appendix volumes, their pocket parts, and supplementary pamphlets.  Identifying cases in your jurisdiction is fairly easy, because the case summaries are arranged in alphabetical order by state.