France has moved to formally abolish the legal concept of a marital duty to have sex, with the National Assembly approving a bill on Wednesday to amend the civil code. The proposed legislation adds a clause specifying that the 'community of living' inherent in marriage does not create an 'obligation for sexual relations.'
This legislative action prevents judges from citing a lack of sexual relations as a basis for granting a fault-based divorce, a practice that had occasionally occurred under a broad interpretation of marital duties. The bill’s sponsor, Green MP Marie-Charlotte Garin, stated that maintaining such a duty implies collective approval of a system where husbands dominate wives. Marriage, Garin argued, cannot function where consent to sex is presumed permanent.
The change primarily serves as a clarification, as the French civil code already listed marriage duties as respect, fidelity, support, and assistance without explicitly mentioning sexual rights. However, historical judicial interpretations, rooted in medieval church law notions, sometimes conflated these duties with sexual obligations.
This legislative clarification follows a 2023 ruling by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), which condemned France for allowing sex refusal to be grounds for divorce. The ECHR decision had already made similar rulings practically impossible for French courts to issue.
Campaigners emphasize that the cultural and societal notion of a wife's sexual obligation persists, necessitating this legal reinforcement. The recent Mazan trial, involving the rape of an unconscious woman, underscored for activists the danger of entrenched assumptions about marital consent.
France already criminalized marital rape prior to 1990, and its legal definition of rape was recently expanded. The definition now requires 'informed, specific, anterior and revocable' consent, explicitly stating that silence or lack of reaction does not constitute agreement.
The immediate practical impact on divorce proceedings is expected to be minimal due to the ECHR's prior intervention. Nevertheless, the move signals a definitive legislative stance against archaic interpretations of marital commitment in the twenty-first century.
This legal refinement aligns France with evolving international standards regarding bodily autonomy within marriage structures. Global focus remains on how other jurisdictions address outdated legal concepts related to spousal obligations.
