Consentability: Consent and its Limits

by Nancy S. Kim

Overview

Problems regarding the nature of consent are at the heart of many of today's most pressing issues. For example, the #MeToo movement has underscored the need to move beyond viewing consent as a simple matter of yes or no. Consent is complex because humans and their relationships are complicated. Humans, as a result of cognitive limitations and emotional and physical vulnerabilities, are susceptible to manipulation and mistakes. Given the potential for regret, are there some things to which one should not be permitted to consent? The consentability quandary becomes more urgent with technological advances. Should we allow body hacking? Cryonics? Consumer travel to Mars? Assisted suicide? In Consentability: Consent and Its Limits, Nancy S. Kim proposes a bold, original framework for evaluating consentability, which considers the complexities surrounding consent.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781316616550
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/14/2019
Pages:	254
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.55(d)

About the Author

Nancy S. Kim is Professor of Law at California Western School of Law and a Visiting Professor at the Rady School of Management, University of California, San Diego. She is an elected member of the American Law Institute and the author of numerous articles, essays and two books, Wrap Contracts: Foundations and Ramifications (2013) and The Fundamentals of Contract Law and Clauses: A Practical Approach (2016).

Table of Contents

Introduction; Part I. The Contours of Consent: 1. What does it mean to consent? 2. The hard cases; Part II. Consentability and Contractability: 3. A consentability framework; 4. Consent and contracts; Part III. The Regret Principle and the Opportunism Corollary: Application: 5. Improving the conditions of consent; 6. Reducing opportunism; 7. Revisiting the hard cases – some final thoughts; Conclusion; List of cases; List of statutes; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

'Nancy Kim has reset the stage in terms of how consent should be understood and governed within the law. In rich prose, she explains there are 'reasons to doubt the invincibility of consent', and with that she takes the reader on an intellectually rich journey. This is the rarest of books, because scholars across many disciplines will want to read and reference it. At a time in which consent is mired in confusion and conflict, she offers a clear and rich analysis on how we got here.' Michele Goodwin, Chancellor's Professor of Law, University of California, Irvine

'Should the law protect us from ourselves? Nancy Kim’s timely and interesting book examines this question through the lens of consent and its limits. Ironically, in an era of increasing choice regarding how to live, die, and procreate, we also understand better than ever the limits of human capacity to make wise choices. What the law should do about that, however, is far from clear.' Kimberly Krawiec, Kathrine Robinson Everett Professor of Law, Duke University, North Carolina

'With Consentability, Nancy Kim has cemented her reputation as a leading authority on contracting theory. Kim confronts cutting edge ethical questions about the boundaries of consent, drawn from real-life scenarios involving harmful and potentially life-threatening contracting decisions. Her carefully crafted analysis balances values of autonomy against community needs and mores and once again offers a framework to help us think more clearly about the meaning of consent.' Deborah Zalesne, City University of New York

'… a good overview, clearly written, and accessible even to nonspecialists.' B. Gregg, Choice

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