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Full-Text Articles in Family Law
Sexual Agreements, Susan Frelich Appleton, Albertina Antognini
Sexual Agreements, Susan Frelich Appleton, Albertina Antognini
Scholarship@WashULaw
Few would find it surprising that an agreement for sex falls outside the bounds of contract law. Prostitution—defined as an exchange of sex for money—has long been a crime, a point that courts often make in declining to enforce agreements between unmarried partners. In fact, courts routinely invalidate contracts when sex forms the basis of a couple’s bargain, whether married or not, and whether the sex is explicit or inferred from the relationship itself. A closer look at the legal treatment of sexual agreements, however, tells a more complicated story. Although courts reject sex as consideration for being “meretricious” or …