11/27/2022 0 Comments Chastity contract guidelinesAs a 19th century English judge put it, "on the sale of a specific article, unless there be a warranty making it part of the bargain that it possesses some particular quality, the purchaser must take the article he has bought, though it does not possess that quality." French law now holds that a groom receives no warranty as to his bride's chastity. His mistaken belief about his bride's virginity could not, the court said, nullify his purchase. The court's legal analysis was one of "let the buyer beware," as though the groom were claiming to have purchased damaged goods. Even if she had lied, they said, it did not matter, as a woman's lies about her past love affairs are not matters essential to her married life. The government argued that the wife's virginity was not an essential condition because her unchaste past has no effect on married life. Still, she agreed to an annulment because her husband lacked the intent to show her the respect required by the marriage vows, and that this was an essential condition to the marriage. The subject of her virginity, she said, had never come up. She denied deceiving her future husband about her past. Her deception concerning her virginity meant that he had not knowingly consented to the marriage. Mutual confidence and sincerity were, he argued, essential conditions of matrimony. He claimed she lied to him and that truthfulness was an essential condition to a marriage. At the appeals court, the husband changed his argument, saying that although he had hoped for a virgin wife, her chastity was not indispensable. The decision of the trial judge quickly reached the appeals court, which reversed the judgment. A woman's right to choose her first lover suddenly became a matter of public policy. She ordered the government to intervene and appeal the decision.įrench law permits the government to become a party to any case in which French public policy is at issue. Prominent members of the French government, including the dynamic minister of justice, Rachida Dati, were outraged. He failed to foresee the media storm that would ensue. If it was not, then the couple was validly married.Īs neither party objected, the trial judge saw no harm in granting the annulment. If it was, then the contract could be annulled. The question was whether the woman's virginity was an essential element of the marriage contract. French contract law states that if one of the parties to a contract is mistaken as to some essential element, then the contract is void. He immediately brought suit to annul the marriage on the grounds that his wife's virginity was an essential condition of the marriage. Apparently, the bride wasn't the virgin the groom thought she was. The drama began on a Muslim couple's wedding night. That was the question at the heart of a legal case that recently worked its way through the French courts. Like a used car, must a groom take his bride "as is" – with no warranty implied as to the woman's chastity?
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