It's not a new idea (not to knock the OP). http://wiki.erights.org/wiki/Safe_Serialization_Under_Mutual... calls it uneval instead of lave, and attributes it to Jonathan Rees. See http://wiki.erights.org/wiki/Safe_Serialization_Under_Mutual... for more on the security issues -- this was all for the E language, but I guess most of it could carry over to modern Javascript. One aspect that wouldn't: in E when you resolve a promise it becomes (http://gbracha.blogspot.com/2009/07/miracle-of-become.html) the resolution. Data-E uses this to express reference cycles.