To a beginning lawyer trained outside the USA, it can be a memorable moment of curiosity: what is that thing that US-based authors or US courts cite as if it were part of the canon of legal holy books: what is a ‘restatement’?1 Moreover, what is ‘foreign relations law’ and how does it relate to international law? Even if these questions linger on, one quickly learns that the Restatement of the Law: The Foreign Relations Law of the United States is a special beast in the international legal literature: although instigated by a private organization (the American Law Institute), it seeks to restate ‘the law’ authoritatively; whilst prepared by academics, it avowedly aims to shape legal practice, and it may originate from within one jurisdiction but is consulted around the globe.

The release in late 2018 of a new volume of the Restatement – the Restatement (Fourth) – provides an occasion for a new and informed encounter with the phenomenon of the Restatement and an opportunity to address lingering questions concerning the role of this monumental US institution in the international legal discourse. To that end, the European Journal of International Law organized in October 2020 a literal – albeit online – encounter between, on the one hand, US scholars intimately familiar with the Restatement – namely, its key authors – and Europe-based scholars who are intimately familiar with the issue areas covered by this Restatement: treaties, jurisdiction and immunities. This ensuing Symposium aims to shed light on the Restatement (Fourth) at three levels: (i) the project of ‘restating’ the law; (ii) the concept of ‘foreign relations law’ and its relationship to international law; and (iii) the substance of law as ‘restated’ in the Restatement: How does the Restatement (Fourth) approach the law of treaties, jurisdiction and immunities; does it get the law ‘right’ and how does it compare to its illustrious predecessor, the Restatement (Third)?2