An online dating site that targets married people is being accused of breaking the law. A court in France must now decide whether the company is illegally encouraging spouses to cheat.
Is it permitted for a dating website to promote adultery, when fidelity in marriage is written into French civil law?
That is the question underlying a law-suit targeting the French company Gleeden, which boasts that it is the world’s leading “extra-conjugal site conceived for married women”.
Angered by Gleeden’s provocative advertising on the public transport system, the Association of Catholic Families (ACF) has filed a civil case contesting the site’s legality.
It might seem odd in this permissive age, but family lawyers agree that the ACF plea has a respectable chance of succeeding.
This is because the notion of fidelity as constituting an integral part of marriage is specifically spelt out in the French civil code.
In France, all law is based on written codes (penal code, labour code, commercial code etc) which can be amended by parliament. Judges are free to interpret the codes, but their room for manoeuvre is much more limited than in a common law system like the UK’s.