The Restatement of the Law on volumes aim “to present an orderly restatement of general common law of the United States, including in that term not only the law developed solely by judicial decision, but also the law that has grown from the application by the courts of statutes that were generally enacted and were in force for many years.” They are rules of laws that in the opinion of the American Law Institute, would be applied by enlightened courts. The restatements attempt to give unity to the rules of common law, with more scholarship and study behind it than can be found in a conventional treatise of legal encyclopedia. Persons eminent in their respective fields do the work of compiling the Restatements. So, for example, The Restatement of the Law of Torts is complied by experts in the Law of Torts.

Each Restatement begins with an introduction and a table of contents. The treatment of the material closely resembles that of a hornbook. First there is a statement of principle, then there is a comment that explains the principle, and lastly there are illustrations of how the principle is applied. Each Restatement has its own detailed index.

The Wirtz Labor Law Library has many of the restatements in hard copy. The Restatements can also be found in both WESTLAW (REST Library) and Lexis (2NDARY).