Editing William Draper Lewis (section)

==American Law Institute==
At the 1920 and 1921 meetings of the [[Association of American Law Schools]], Lewis urged the creation of an "institute of law" to elucidate the progress of the common law. In 1923, the [[American Law Institute]] became a reality. "Founding father"<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=eV9Y5Dx-zfcC&pg=PA761 ''ABA Journal'']  "The A.L.I. at 50", ''American Bar Association'', 1973, page 761. Retrieved June 21, 2018.</ref> Lewis became its first director, shaping its agenda of preparing "restatements" of the "law, as it had developed under the divergent decisions of the American courts," being, according to Judge [[Augustus Noble Hand|Augustus N. Hand]], "largely his own conception and it is no exaggeration to say that it was principally his faith and zeal that finally resulted in enlisting Senator [[Elihu Root]], [[George W. Wickersham]], [[James F. Byrnes|James Byrne]][s] and many other distinguished lawyers, as well as numerous judges and teachers of the law, in the enterprise and in obtaining the financial support for it of the [[Carnegie Corporation]]," presidential advisor Root, a [[Nobel Peace Laureate]], was also a close advisor to [[Andrew Carnegie]].<ref>[https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=8226&context=penn_law_review Hand, A. N.] "William Draper Lewis," by Augustus N. Hand, PENN Law Legal Scholarship Repository, University of Pennsylvania Law School. Retrieved May 29, 2018.</ref><ref>[https://www.nps.gov/thri/elihuroot.htm NPS] "An Unexpected Inauguration that Changed the Nation," National Park Service, January 4, 2016. Retrieved May 29, 2018.</ref> Lewis served the institute until June 1947, two years before his death.

Though the ALI's restatements met with complaints that they undermined the fluidity of the common law and echoed the codification of European civil law, it is fair to say Lewis's work as director rank him as the single most influential figure in the pragmatic development of 20th-Century American Law.