MYTH AND REALITY - OR, IS IT PERCEPTION AND TASTE - IN THE READING OFDONATIVE DOCUMENTS

In this Essay, Professor Robertson suggests revitalizing a once promin ent but long dorment approach for interpreting donative documents. He advocates replacing the traditional search for donor's subjective inte nt with a circumstanced external approach. According to Professor Robe rtson, this external approach is grounded in our legal history of dona tive transfers and is ''better suited to the task at hand '' Under thi s approach, a court would ask what a hypothetical semi-sovereign donor (SSD) meant given the text of the donative document and its surroundi ng circumstances.