Nevada Supreme Court Law Library: Restatements & Principles of the Law

The Restatements are important books that explain general rules about laws, like those for contracts or property. They are made by the American Law Institute (ALI) and are often used by courts, including Nevada’s courts, to make decisions. There are also Principles of the Law by ALI, which help people understand new or tricky legal topics. This guide shows how to find and use these Restatements and Principles online using tools like Westlaw and Lexis. For more help, you can also check out the American Law Institute guide on HeinOnline.

The Restatements of the Law are key legal commentaries that organize and clarify general rules in specific legal areas. They are frequently cited by courts, including the Nevada Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

Published by the American Law Institute (ALI), the Restatements primarily address courts, offering clear formulations of common law and statutory elements. In contrast, Principles of the Law are mainly directed at legislatures, administrative agencies, and private actors but may also guide courts in emerging legal areas.

Both the Restatements and Principles of the Law are cited by Nevada courts and can be researched similarly.

This guide provides an overview of the Restatements and instructions for researching them online using Westlaw and Lexis. For access via HeinOnline, refer to their American Law Institute LibGuide.

The American Law Institute publishes Restatements on the following topics:

• Agency
• American Indians (The Law of)
• Charitable Nonprofit Organizations
• Children and the Law
• Conflict of Laws
• Contracts
• Corporate Governance
• Employment Law
• The Foreign Relations Law of the United States
• International Commercial and Investor-State Arbitration
• Judgments
• The Law Governing Lawyers
• Liability Insurance
• Property
  • Landlord and Tenant
  • Mortgages
  • Servitudes
  • Wills and Other Donative Transfers
• Restitution and Unjust Enrichment
• Suretyship and Guaranty
• Torts
  • Apportionment of Liability
  • Concluding Provisions
  • Liability for Physical and Emotional Harm
  • Liability for Economic Harm
  • Products Liability
  • Intentional Torts to Persons
  • Remedies
• Trusts
• Unfair Competition

The ALI has published the following Principles of the Law:

• Aggregate Litigation
• Compliance and Enforcement for Organizations
• Corporate Governance: Analysis and Recommendations
• Data Economy
• Data Privacy
• Election Administration: Non-Precinct Voting and Resolution of Ballot-Counting Disputes
• Family Dissolution: Analysis and Recommendations
• Government Ethics
• Intellectual Property: Principles Governing Jurisdiction, Choice of Law, and Judgments in Transnational Disputes
• Policing
• Software Contracts
• Student Sexual Misconduct Procedural Frameworks for Colleges and Universities
• Transnational Civil Procedure
• Transnational Insolvency