France Officially Ends the “Marital Duty”
France took a historic step this Wednesday as the National Assembly voted unanimously to remove the “devoir conjugal” or marital duty from the nation’s legal framework.
The cross-party bill finally closes a loophole that allowed the civil justice system to penalize spouses for refusing sexual relations.
This decision marks the end of a long-standing contradiction in French law where bodily autonomy was recognized in criminal courts but often ignored in divorce proceedings.
Modernizing the Civil Code
The new legislation focuses on updating Article 215 and Article 242 of the Civil Code. Lawmakers have now clarified that the legal requirement for a “community of life” between a married couple does not grant either partner a right to the other’s body.
By explicitly stating that marriage does not create an obligation for sexual relations, the law ensures that consent is the only standard for intimacy regardless of marital status.
Previously, a spouse could be found “at fault” during a divorce if their partner proved a lack of sexual activity in the home. This often led to financial penalties or unfavorable settlements.
Under the new rules, judges are strictly prohibited from using a lack of sexual relations as a basis for fault in divorce cases. This shift effectively decouples the legal contract of marriage from the private physical lives of the individuals involved.
Financial Penalties for Intimacy
The urgency of this reform was underscored by past court rulings that treated sexual intimacy as a mandatory legal service. In one notable case, a French court ordered a husband to pay 10,000€ in damages to his wife specifically because he failed to fulfill his “marital duty” over several years.
The court ruled that the absence of sexual relations, attributed to the husband, constituted a serious breach of the obligations of marriage. This case highlighted how the law was being used to monetize and enforce physical intimacy, creating a system where a partner’s body was treated like a contractual asset.
Pressure from the European Court
The momentum for this change accelerated following a sharp rebuke from the European Court of Human Rights.
The court recently condemned France after a 2019 ruling where a 69-year-old woman was held legally responsible for her marriage’s failure because she stopped having sex with her husband.
The ECHR ruled that the French court’s decision was an archaic violation of human dignity and physical integrity, forcing the government to address the gap between its modern values and its aging statutes.
French legislators argued that keeping the marital duty on the books was a dangerous relic of the 19th century.
They pointed out the absurdity of having a Penal Code that rightfully prosecutes marital rape while a Civil Code simultaneously suggested that sex was a mandatory service.
The unanimous vote reflects a rare moment of total political agreement that the law must protect individual consent above historical tradition.
Wedding Ceremony
The impact of this bill will be felt immediately at the local level once the Senate confirms the vote later this year. The text read by mayors during civil wedding ceremonies will be updated to include these new definitions of consent.
This is intended to be a pedagogical tool, ensuring that every couple entering into a legal union understands that marriage is not a surrender of their right to say no.
By integrating this into the ceremony, the state aims to reset the cultural expectations of marriage for future generations.
The bill now heads to the Senate under an accelerated procedure, with supporters expecting it to become official law before the summer.
It represents a final legal acknowledgment that the privacy and dignity of the individual remain intact, even within a domestic partnership.