It was on a notion from another time that France was condemned this Thursday: marital duty. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled that a woman who refuses sex to her husband must not be considered by the courts as “at fault” in the event of divorce. European judges therefore ruled in favor of a 69-year-old woman who had refused to have sexual relations with her husband for eight years… contrary to French justice.
The Versailles Court of Appeal in 2019 deemed her former husband's request for divorce for fault to be legitimate. However, the wife explained that she had to take care of her disabled daughter full time and that she herself suffered from serious health problems. She also said that her refusal to have sex had led to verbal and physical violence from her partner, reports Radio France.
“Duties and obligations of marriage”
However, marital duty no longer appears in French law since the creation of the Napoleonic Civil Code in 1804. The courts even integrated, in 1990, the right to refuse sexual relations to one's spouse. She also repeatedly retained the notion of marital rape if the partner imposed intercourse.
However, the notion of marital duty has not disappeared from jurisprudence. For example, in 2011, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal confirmed a divorce decision solely at fault of the husband due to the absence of sexual relations for several years, explains The Cross. The divorced man was ordered to pay 10,000 euros in damages to his ex-partner.
-“A serious or renewed violation of the duties and obligations of marriage”
“Civil justice sometimes continues to rely on an interpretation of article 242 of the Civil Code, to sanction an abstinent partner,” explains Radio France. This article states that “divorce may be requested by a spouse for acts attributable to the other when these facts constitute a serious or renewed violation of the duties and obligations of marriage and make the continuation of life together intolerable. »
“I hope that this decision will mark a turning point in the fight for women's rights in France,” reacted the victim, in a press release sent by one of her two lawyers, Lilia Mhissen.
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