The Java Memory Model is the section of the JLS that specifies the conditions under which one thread is guaranteed to see the effects of memory writes made by another thread. The relevant section in recent editions is "JLS 17.4 Memory Model" (in Java 8, Java 7, Java 6)
There was a major overhaul of the Java Memory Model in Java 5 which (among other things) changed the way that volatile
worked. Since then, the memory model been essentially unchanged.