Igenlode Wordsmith

On Divorce by Mutual Consent

Sun, 16 Jan 2022 23:03:58 GMT

One more quirk of the Napoleonic legal system (in addition to the business of needing the father's permission to marry if you were under the age of twenty-five): couples could not be divorced 'by mutual consent' if the husband was under the age of twenty-five -- or if they had been married for less than two years.
So if Raoul wanted to divorce his wife and remarry to Christine, he would have to have brought his concubine into their common residence first, and get Hertha to divorce him, because otherwise they are deemed too young to know their own minds. (Not a completely unreasonable legal attitude, although an unexpected one!)

And the 'concubine' in question couldn't be Christine herself, because the guilty party is not permitted to marry his accomplice subsequent to the divorce. ( Read more... )

comments

Nineteenth century French law on legitimacy

Sun, 18 Jun 2017 20:52:39 GMT

This is the summary I came across: http://www.placedauphine.net/projects/inheritancelaw.html

This is the actual law:
http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/code/book1/c_title07.html
In the original French: https://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/Code_civil_des_Fran%C3%A7ais_1804/Livre_I,_Titre_VII

(Section relevant to Gustave's situation: VII.I.2 "De la paternité et de la filiation" ) 312. L’enfant conçu pendant le mariage, a pour père le mari. [...] 313.
Le mari ne pourra, en alléguant son impuissance naturelle, désavouer l’enfant : il ne pourra le désavouer même pour cause d’adultère, à moins que la naissance ne lui ait été cachée...)

comments

Code Napoleon

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 17:26:06 GMT

A handy translation of the Code Napoléon (nineteenth-century French law): http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/c_code.html

comments