Restatements Old and New, Sentencing, and Article 9 Headline Annual Meeting Agenda
Six projects, including the final installments of two long-running Restatement projects and the first Tentative Draft of a proposed new Restatement, will be considered at the ALI’s 87th Annual Meeting, to be held May 17-19 at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C.
On Monday morning, May 17, Reporter Kevin R. Reitz will submit the third Discussion Draft of Model Penal Code: Sentencing. This project is revisiting the Institute’s Model Penal Code sentencing provisions in light of the changes in sentencing philosophy and practice that have taken place since the Code was first developed more than 40 years ago. The draft encompasses the following topics: determinate versus indeterminate sentencing, prison-release mechanisms within a generally determinate structure, life sentences, needs and risk assessments of offenders at sentencing, sentencing juveniles convicted in adult court, and post-release supervision terms.
On Monday afternoon, Reporter Steven L. Harris and Review Committee Chair Edwin E. Smith will present for approval a Tentative Draft of proposed amendments to Uniform Commercial Code Article 9. In 2008, the Review Committee was appointed by ALI and the Uniform Law Commission to draft modest modifications to the text and comments of UCC Article 9. The Committee agreed not to reconsider policy decisions made during the drafting of the Article, except as was necessary to address any provisions that were creating significant problems in practice. Most of the changes proposed in this draft clarify the existing text and comments or conform them to recent amendments to other Articles of the UCC. Two sets of changes are noteworthy: the question of the debtor’s name on a financing statement regarding which the Committee disagreed and decided to offer alternatives to the states, and changes concerning collateral acquired by a debtor following relocation and collateral acquired by a new debtor.
What is expected to be the final Tentative Draft of Restatement of the Law Third, Property (Wills and Other Donative Transfers), will be submitted by Reporter Lawrence W. Waggoner and Associate Reporter John H. Langbein on May 18 at 9:00 a.m. When completed, this Restatement Third project will replace Restatement Second, Property (Donative Transfers). The draft covers present and future interests and the public-policy limitation on dead-hand control: the rule against perpetuities.
Members will consider the third Tentative Draft of Restatement of the Law Third, Employment Law, on May 18 at 11:15 a.m. Chief Reporter Samuel Estreicher and Reporter Stewart J. Schwab will present the draft, which deals with the employee duty of loyalty and restrictive covenants. Although federal and state statutes regulate the employment relationship, major aspects continue to be governed by law developed by state appellate courts, and doctrine has changed significantly in recent decades.
Also on May 18, at 3:00 p.m., Reporter George A. Bermann and Associate Reporters Jack J. Coe, Jr., Christopher R. Drahozal, and Catherine A. Rogers will present the first Tentative Draft of Restatement of the Law Third, The U.S. Law of International Commercial Arbitration. This project will restate the American law of international commercial arbitration. The draft covers definitions and the recognition and enforcement of awards.
Reporter Andrew Kull will submit what is likely to be the last draft for Restatement of the Law Third, Restitution and Unjust Enrichment, at 11:00 a.m. on May 19. Six Tentative Drafts have already been approved by the membership; this year’s draft encompasses the last two Sections on remedies, defenses to restitution, a revision of Chapter 1 on general principles, and proposed revisions to drafts previously approved. Membership approval of this draft would clear the way for publication of the new Restatement, replacing the original Restatement of Restitution published in 1937.