# North Dakota Law Review/Volume 1/Number 7/The American Law Institute

THE AMERICAN LAW INSTITUTE By Hon. Geo. M. McKenna
The Third Annual Meeting of the American Law Institute was held at Washington, D. C., May 1st and 2nd, 1925. The meeting was presided over by Judge Benjamin N. Cardozo of New York. Over three hundred and fifty members were present, coming from every state in the Union. North Dakota was represented by Hon. A. W. Cupler, President of the State Bar Association; Dean O. P. Cockerill, of the Law School of the State University, and Judge Geo. M. McKenna, of Napoleon.
Definite, practical and substantial progress has been made in the great work of preparing the Restatement of the Law, best evidenced by the fact that the editorial staff and the Council were able to submit at this meeting a Restatement of a Portion of the Law of Contracts, that portion of the Restatement of the Law of Torts dealing with Assault, Assault and Battery and False Imprisonment, and that part of the Restatement of the Topic, Conflict of Laws, dealing with Domicile.
It was interesting, instructive and highly entertaining to see these restatements analyzed paragraph by paragraph, and sentence by sentence; with critical comment, tersely stated objections, and illustrations from wide personal experience. It was borne in upon the convention that the Reporters, Prof. Samuel H. Williston, of Harvard, on Contracts; Francis H. Bohlen, of Pennsylvania, on Torts; and Joseph H. Beale, of the Harvard Law School, on Conflicts of Laws, were eminently fitted for their great tasks. The readiness with which they were able to answer all questions and objections; to sift to the bottom every proposition; to succinctly and clearly illustrate every point, was a mental treat, and inspired confidence in all present that the work was being thoroughly, carefully and capably done. None of the restatements were finally accepted, but will await the result of practical experience and further comment.
Another interesting and highly important feature was the ​presentation of the Report on “A Survey and Statement of the Defects in Criminal Justice,” prepared by the Committee of which former Governor Herbert S. Hadley is Chairman. The Institute voted to accept an offer from the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial of $20,000.00 annually for three years for use in the preparation of a code of laws and court rules relating to criminal procedure, the work of preparation to commence immediately. This work was urged by Resolutions adopted by The American Bar Association, The Executive Commitee of the Association of American Law Schools, and the American Institute on Criminal Law and Criminology. The offer places the Institute in a position to carry through the work of preparing a draft of a Model Code of Criminal Procedure without taking for that purpose any part of the donation of the Carnegie Corporation, heretofore made for general purrposes.
The convention adopted a resolution inviting State Bar Associations and other legal professional associations to appoint committees to cooperate with the Institute in keeping the members of their respective associations informed of the progress of the work. North Dakota was the pioneer state in appointing such a Committee, and gave to the Executive Council the idea of thus interesting all the Bar Associations of the country.