La Loi D’Amour : French Judge Awards Damages To Ex-Wife For Lack of Sexual Relations With Former Husband

A judge in Nice has not only granted a divorce but damages to a 47-year-old wife for insufficient loving by her 51-year-old husband (known only as Jean-Louis B.). The damages appear to work like a type of loss of consortium claim against a spouse and was issued under article 215 of France’s civil code, which states married couples must agree to a “shared communal life.”

The ruling in my view is le stupide. The judge insisted that “sexual relations must form part of a marriage.” Ok, if that is true and there is no such thing as a platonic marriage in France, that is a good reason for a divorce. But damages?

The wife had already proceeded with the divorce when she returned to demand 10,000 euros in compensation for “lack of sex over 21 years of marriage”. How does one calculate those damages? Is it the commercial value of purchased sex on the street?

The judge from Aix-en-Provence found that, despite the husband’s claims of health problems, “[b]y getting married, couples agree to sharing their life and this clearly implies they will have sex with each other.”

I find that quite a stretch as the basis for damages based on a statute that defines marriage as a “shared communal life.”

Source: Telegraph