title: Bottled babies and frozen hope: a review of three recent decisions on the property of cryopreserved sperm.
abstract: The English common law has taken a deliberate step away from the Australian High Court's longstanding "work or skill" exception to the rule against proprietary claims over the human body. Now, at least in respect of cryopreserved sperm, the English Court of Appeal has recognised a proprietary interest arising from a principle of "subsisting right to use". However, recent Australian decisions illustrate the ongoing role of the "work or skill" exception in circumstances where a widow seeks access to her deceased husband's sperm to conceive a child. If such claims are to be made within a property law paradigm, as it appears they must, then Australian courts should supplement the all too easily satisfied "work or skill" exception with a clear and robust outline of discretionary considerations.
authors: jbraid@alumni.unimelb.edu.au
authors: Jesse
authors: J
authors: Braid
mesh_terms: D015925:Cryopreservation; D059247:Fertility Preservation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007248:Infertility, Male / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000150:complications; D037022:Posthumous Conception / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D013094:Spermatozoa