A treatise is usually a multi-volume set of books that provides comprehensive analysis of an area of law. They are often written by highly regarded legal scholars and may be cited as persuasive authority.
Useful features:
Finding treatises:
*Hornbooks and Nutshells: These resources are often considered to be types of treatises. They are typically written as study aids for law students and do not provide the in-depth coverage that a multi-volume treatise does. They are great resources for finding background information on a topic, but are not considered authoritative and should not be cited.
Restatements are created by the American Law Institute, a highly regarded organization of legal experts, and are basically attempts to record or "restate" general principles of common law, also referred to as "judge-made law." Restatements focus on broad legal topics, such as property or torts, and individual states decide whether to adopt particular restatements. Restatements provide brief but comprehensive statements of legal rules, comments to help explain the rules, exceptions to the rules, and hypotheticals. They are often cited by courts and are considered highly authoritative.
Useful features
Things to be aware of
Finding Restatements
