intent of the parties in order to grant contractual relief. Most definitions of contract con-
tain the elements of intent and assent. Hence, most issues of contract law involve the
determination of the "acts the parties must perform in order to express their intentions
and the legal relationships that flow from expressions of assent." ¹⁰ ProfessorAtiyah sug-
gested that this "heritage has led us to place undue emphasis on the extent to which con-
tractual obligations depend upon intentions and the voluntary assumption of liability." ¹¹
Whether undue or not, the finding of either subjective or objective intent has been at the
center of the law of contracts.

The courts have been delegated the task of discovering contractual intent. The pur-
pose of their investigation is twofold: first, to determine if there can be found a general
intent to create a legally binding obligation; second, once general intent is uncovered,
specific intent is needed regarding a specific contractual term or issue. In the face of
ambiguity or to fill in missing terms, specific intent was eyed through a process of con-
tractual interpretation and construction in order to salvage the general intent of the par-
ties. Specific intent focuses upon the parties intention as to a particular matter of
contract. What were the parties' specific intention regarding the meaning of a specific
term or regarding a missing term? Both types of intent are largely contextual. For exam-
ple, a general intent to create legal relations can be implied by the context of the com-
munications. "In the commercial sphere the intention to create legal relations is readily
assumed in such circumstances." ¹² Businesspersons are thought to engage one another
with the idea of consummating a legally binding transaction or exchange.

Two approaches have been championed in common law jurisprudence as proper
methods in the making of these determinations. The subjective theory of contract
focuses on the actual intent or consensus ad idem of the contracting parties. The objec-
tive theory of contract centers on the parties' manifestations of intent. This approach in
its purest form holds that a party's actual, provable intent or meaning is irrelevant. Its
standard-bearer, the figurative reasonable person, has the duty to inquire into the mean-
ing of the words and acts implored by the parties. ¹³

Anglo-American contract law's most dominant theme in the nineteenth and twenti-
eth centuries has been the objectification of its rules and doctrines. "No metaphysical
theory has prevailed to prevent the steady march of the law and of juristic thought in
the direction of an objective doctrine of legal transactions." ¹⁴ In Barclay v. Spokane the
court defined the objective approach to contracts. "In interpreting a contract our pur-
pose is to ascertain the intent of the parties, but that does not mean that we are to be
guided by the unexpressed subjective intent of a party. Rather we are controlled by the
objective manifestations of intent expressed in their writings." ¹⁵

The transformation of Anglo-American law from the subjective to the objective can
be seen as part of a larger philosophical debate. Modern thinking has periodically

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