Dr Aisling McMahon has published a chapter in a new edited collection entitled ‘Contractual Law and the Legislature: Autonomy, Expectations, and the Making of Legal Doctrine’ published by Hart Publishing and edited by Prof TT Arvind and Prof Jenny Steele (University of York). This volume revisits some of the key debates about the nature and shape of contract law, in light of the impact that statutes have had on its development. It is published as a companion to the ground-breaking Tort Law and the Legislature: Common Law, Statute and the Dynamics of Legal Change (Hart Publishing, 2012)
Dr McMahon’s chapter ‘Contractual Enforceability and Surrogacy Arrangements: Mapping the Moral Limits’ provides a critique of the unenforceability of surrogacy arrangements within the UK context, examining the implications of unenforceability for surrogates, intended parent(s) and child(ren) born as a result of such arrangements. Under the Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985, as amended, surrogacy arrangements although not illegal, are not legally enforceable. In such scenarios, where surrogacy arrangements are removed from contractual regulation and where no other systems of private rights are put in place to dictate what happens in the event of a dispute between the private parties, the article argues that more is lost by the absence of contract law than could be gained by its involvement on certain aspects.