Cross-Cultural Readings of Intent: Form, Fiction, and Reasonable Expectations

In her article, Reasonable Expectations in Sociocultural Context, Professor Nancy Kim tackles the problems created by an objective theory of contract in a pluralistic society and a global economy. She is a proponent of an “expanded intent analysis,” which she says would require courts to consider facts “in cultural context.” Her test for contractual intent, which she has named “contextual purposive intent,” would include the social identities of the parties to the contract. This response focuses on Kim’s analysis of Kim v. Son, an unpublished California appellate court decision in which the plaintiff’s claim was denied for lack of consideration, and her argument that a contextual purposive intent analysis would have changed the outcome and produced a more just result in that case.