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22 Stan. L. Rev. 713 (1969-1970)
Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 402A and the Uniform Commercial Code

handle is hein.journals/stflr22 and id is 727 raw text is: Restatement (Second) of Torts Section 402A and the Uniform Commercial Code Herbert W. Titus* I. PROMULGATION AND ACCEPTANCE OF SECTION 4o2A In 1961 William Prosser first introduced a draft of section 4o2A of the Restatement (Second) of Torts to the American Law Institute. The 1961 version of this rule of strict tort liability was limited to sales of food.' In 1962 the American Law Institute adopted' a revision of section 402A in which strict tort liability was extended beyond food to products for inti- mate bodily use. Two years later Dean Prosser, the Reporter for the new Restatement, asked the Institute to withdraw the 1962 version in favor of a new draft of section 4o2A extending strict tort liability to any product. Mr. Prosser explained that he had withheld the 1962 version of section 402A from the printers because of the rather spectacular developments in the case law on the subject.5 In response to its Reporter's urgings, the Ameri- can Law Institute adopted the new text of section 402A,6 which now reads: § 4o2A. Special Liability of Sellers of Products for Physical Harm to User or Consumer (i) One who sells any product in a defective condition unreasonably dangerous to the user or consumer or to his property, is subject to liability for physical harm thereby caused to the ultimate user or consumer, or to his property, if (a) the seller is engaged in the business of selling such a product, and (b) it is expected to and does reach the user or consumer without substantial change in the condition in which it is sold. (2) The rule stated in subsection (i) applies although (a) the seller has exercised all possible care in the preparation and sale of his product, and (b) the user or consumer has not bought the product from or entered into any contractual relation with the seller. B.A. i959, University of Oregon; LL.B. 1962, Harvard University. Associate Professor of Law, University of Oregon. 1. 38 ALI PROCEEDINGS 5o-56 (396). Discussion of the section at the x961 annual meeting appears in id. at 50-98. 2. RFSTATENIENT (SEcoND) or TORTS § 4o2A (Tent. Draft No. 6, ig6i). Food had been de- fined very broadly. See 38 ALI PROCEEDINGS 56-6o (ig6i); REs-ATE MENT (SECOND) oF TORTS § 402A, comment c at 34-35 (Tent. Draft No. 6, 1961). 3. 39 ALI PROCEEDINGS 244 (1962). This section had been approved in principle at the 3963 annual meeting. 38 ALl PROCEEDINGS 75 (ig6I). Discussion of § 4o2A at the 1962 annual meeting appears at 39 ALl PRoCEEDINGS 227-44 (3962). 4. RESrATEmENT (SEcoND) oF ToRTS § 402A (Tent. Draft No. 7, 1962). 5. 4 ALI PROCEEDINGS 349 (1964). Discussion of § 402A at the 3964 annual meeting appears in id. at 349-75. 6. Id. at 375; see REsTATEmENT (SEcoND) OF ToRTs S 4o2A (Tent. Draft No. o, 1964).

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