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American Law Institute Uniform Commercial Code records
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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library [Contact Us]3460 Chestnut Street, Biddle Law Library, Philadelphia, PA 19104-3406
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) was the result of a joint project between the American Law Institute (ALI) and the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law (NCCUSL). Work on the UCC began in 1945 in response to a perceived need by members of both ALI and NCCUSL to consolidate a number of uniform laws, previously enacted by NCCUSL, related to commercial transactions. NCCUSL was established in 1891 for the purpose of codifying state law by creating uniform laws and model acts. ALI was founded in 1923 in response to a perceived uncertainty and complexity in American law. The Institute had previously developed a codification of particular areas of the law, known as the Restatement of the Law. Thus, cooperation between ALI and NCCUSL on the UCC presented a likely partnership.
The first version of the UCC was approved in 1952. Over the next few years, the states responded to, analyzed, and amended the UCC. In 1961, the Permanent Editorial Board was established to review and help revise the UCC on a continual basis in accordance with the evolving culture of commercial transactions. As a result, the revision of the Uniform Commercial is an ongoing cooperative project between ALI and NCCUSL. Revisions to the UCC began in 1967. Over the next 40 years, NCCUSL and ALI studied and revised various articles. UCC revision is an ongoing project that continues to this day.
The Uniform Commercial Code [UCC] records, 1935-2003, include planning materials, drafts, comments, correspondence, and other materials related to the creation of the Uniform Commercial Code, which consolidated and codified previous uniform laws related to commercial transaction.
Series I: Administrative Materials, 1938-1997, contains materials created throughout the coordination of the UCC's creation and revision process of the UCC by the central administrative body of the American Law Institute [ALI] including fundraising materials, correspondence, and meeting materials.
Subseries I: General Administrative Records, 1938-1997, contains committee and member rosters, correspondence, and related materials regarding fundraising, revision, translation, licensing, and other activities of the Uniform Commercial Code, submitted to and created by the central administrative body of the American Law Institute.
Subseries II: Meeting Records, 1940-1984, contains minutes, correspondence, and related records regarding the various meetings that contributed to the creation of parts of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Subseries III: Correspondence, 1941-1967, contains letters with corresponding drafting and meeting materials, sent to and received from board and committee members, including Herbert F. Goodrich, William Draper Lewis, and William A. Schnader.
Series II: Background Research, 1935-1985, contains documents that informed the UCC such as case excerpts, articles, reports, memoranda, and materials from a 1953 study of the UCC carried out by the New York State Law Revision Commission.
Subseries I: New York State Law Revision Commission materials, 1948-1959, contains drafts, comments, correspondence, and related materials regarding the study undertaken in 1953 by the New York State Law Revision Commission to analyze and suggest revisions to the first incarnation of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Series III: Drafting, 1940-2003, contains materials created throughout the drafting and revision process including correspondence, official drafts, discussion drafts, reports, and draft related meeting materials.
Series IV: Editorial Boards, 1946-1994, contains materials created and received by the various editorial boards that the ALI and National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law [NCCUSL] brought together for the creation and revisions of the UCC including the Permanent Editorial Board, joint editorial board, the enlarged editorial board, and article specific study groups. These materials include reports, comments, meeting materials, and correspondence.
Series V: Publications, 1948-1995, contains materials published by the ALI or sent to the ALI including state annotations of the UCC, state adoption language of the UCC, and reports on the UCC's progress.
Subseries I: State responses, 1953-1972, captures the interactions between the ALI, NCCUSL, and individual states including correspondence, reports, state annotations, and related materials regarding comments and responses by states to the Uniform Commercial Code.
I. Administrative Materials
II. Background and Research
III. Drafting
IV. Editorial Boards
V. Publications
First shipment received from the American Law Institute in 1995.
An item-level container list is available offline in spreadsheet form.
Preliminary container list prepared by Melissa Backes, 1995-2005.
Reprocessed by Jordon Steele, April 2008.
Encoded by Jordon Steele, April 2008.
People
Organization
Subject
- Publisher
- University of Pennsylvania: Biddle Law Library
- Finding Aid Author
- Jordon Steele (2008); Abigail Boyer (2024)
- Finding Aid Date
- 2008; revised 2024
- Access Restrictions
-
None.
- Use Restrictions
-
The archives reserves the right to restrict access to materials of sensitive nature. Please contact the department for further information.
Collection Inventory
Series I. Administrative Materials
1938-1997, contains materials created throughout the coordination of the UCC's creation and revision process of the UCC by the central administrative body of the American Law Institute [ALI] including fundraising materials, correspondence, and meeting materials.Subseries I: General Administrative Records, 1938-1997, contains committee and member rosters, correspondence, and related materials regarding fundraising, revision, translation, licensing, and other activities of the Uniform Commercial Code, submitted to and created by the central administrative body of the American Law Institute.
Subseries II: Meeting Records, 1940-1984, contains minutes, correspondence, and related records regarding the various meetings that contributed to the creation of parts of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Subseries III: Correspondence, 1941-1967, contains letters with corresponding drafting and meeting materials , sent to and received from board and committee members, including Herbert F. Goodrich, William Draper Lewis, and William A. Schnader.
Series II. Background and Research
1935-1985, contains documents that informed the UCC such as case excerpts, articles, reports, memoranda, and materials from a 1953 study of the UCC carried out by the New York State Law Revision Commission.Subseries I: New York State Law Revision Commission materials, 1948-1959, contains drafts, comments, correspondence, and related materials regarding the study undertaken in 1953 by the New York State Law Revision Commission to analyze and suggest revisions to the first incarnation of the Uniform Commercial Code.
Series III. Drafting
1940-2003, contains materials created throughout the drafting and revision process including correspondence, official drafts, discussion drafts, reports, and draft related meeting materials.Series IV. Editorial Boards
1946-1994, contains materials created and received by the various editorial boards that the ALI and National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Law [NCCUSL] brought together for the creation and revisions of the UCC including the Permanent Editorial Board, joint editorial board, the enlarged editorial board, and article specific study groups. These materials include reports, comments, meeting materials, and correspondence.Series V. Publications
1948-1995, contains materials published by the ALI or sent to the ALI including state annotations of the UCC, state adoption language of the UCC, and reports on the UCC's progress.Subseries I: State responses, 1953-1972, captures the interactions between the ALI, NCCUSL, and individual states including correspondence, reports, state annotations, and related materials regarding comments and responses by states to the Uniform Commercial Code.