Episode 23: Family and Marriage

Living the French Revolution and Age of Napoleon

Dr Suzanne M Desan

Film Review

The change in the status of women after abolition of the French monarchy led to major changes in divorce and inheritance laws, as well as the father’s authority over adult children.

Prior to the revolution, a disgruntled husband could divorce his wife or legally lock her up in a convent. In contrast women had virtually no access to divorce, except in cases of bigamy, life threatening cruelty or insanity.

In September 1792, the revolution’s National Convention, legalized divorce (by a 5 to 1 majority) for the following indications:*

• mutual consent
• incompatibility
• insanity
• cruelty
• long term abuse
• abandonment
• emigration

Following enactment of the new law (which also made it legal for divorced parties to remarry), women initiated 66-75% of divorces, mainly for abuse. Divorce was more rare in the countryside (where women were often unaware of the new law or couldn’t support themselves outside of marriage) than in the cities.

The same month, the National Convention also passed a law that anyone age 21 or over could marry without parental consent. Previously even adult children required their father’s consent to marry. Prior to the revolution, fathers also had the power (abolished in September 1792) to imprison wayward children in monasteries and convents.

As part of the new law, responsibility for recording new marriages passed from parish priests to local communes. Couples could still have their marriage blessed in church, but also required civil authority approval. The new republic actively encouraged marriage (to produce more republican babies) and held revolutionary festivals celebrating family as a civic function.

With the consent of the Convention, northern communes passed laws requiring fathers to divide their property equality among all their children (including, in some cases, the illegitimate ones), whereas pre-revolutionary tradition tended to favor firstborn over younger sons and sons over daughters. Most communes made the law retroactive to 1789, which led many firstborn sons to challenge the law in Family Tribunals specifically created to hear divorce and inheritance cases.

*in 1792, France would be the first country in Europe to legalize no-fault divorce. When Napoleon came to power in 1799, he would make divorce more difficulty to obtain. It would be 1975 before France reenacted no-fault divorce.

Film can be viewed free with a library card on Kanopy.

https://www.kanopy.com/en/pukeariki/watch/video/149323/149367