Surrogacy in the United Kingdom : an inappropriate use of the welfare principle

This chapter offers a critique of the approach of the English courts, exemplified in Re X (A Child) 2014, that applies the welfare test to the determination of all issues raised in applications for a parental order after surrogacy. It is argued that the welfare tets applies only once the application has been found to be competently made, and that the failure to recognise this risks subverting parliamentary intention as well as preferencing the needs of an individual child over the welfare of children in general