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Bouton c. France, requête n° 22636/19, CEDH, 2023. Bouton v. France Application No. 22636/19 (on freedom of political expression)

In the case of Bouton v. France, the applicant, a feminist activist who was a member of Femen, was convicted and given a one-month suspended prison sentence (i.e. with probation) for staging a topless protest in a church in December 2013, exposing her breasts with slogans daubed over them, as part of an international action against the Catholic Church’s position on abortion. She was also ordered to pay the parish representative 2,000 euros (EUR) in respect of non-pecuniary damages and to pay EUR 1,500 towards the other party’s costs.

Case C-136/95, Thibault [1998] ECR I-2011

T was employed by the CNAVTS as a “rédacteur juridique” (official responsible for legal drafting). According to a CNAVTS policy, any employee, after six months service, was automatically entitled to assessment of his/her performance in order to evaluate the possibility of promotion. T was on leave for over six months of the year because of both sickness and pregnancy and was denied assessment. However, had she not taken her maternity leave, she would have accumulated the required six months period necessary for the assessment.

Commission of the European Communities v. France

The Commission brought proceedings against France claiming that it failed to adopt all of the measures required by Council Directive 76/207 within prescribed time. The French government argues that removing special rights for women that are in place should be left to the two sides of industry. However, the Court thinks that leaving industry to work out the issue through collective negotiation without any time limit is unacceptable and the French Republic violated the treaty.

Conseil d'État, 4ème - 1ère chambres réunies, 28 septembre 2022, n°458403, Circulaire du 29 septembre 2021 intitulée «Pour une meilleure prise en compte des questions relatives à l'identité de genre en milieu scolaire» (gender identity issues in schools)

In a ruling handed down on 28 September 2022, the French Council of State upheld the lawfulness of the circular entitled " Improving consideration of gender identity issues in schools ", which had been issued by the Minister for National Education to all national education staff with a view to improving consideration of transgender pupils' situation in schools, facilitating their support and protecting them.

Cour d'appel de Douai 1re chambre civile, 17 novembre 2008, No. 08/03786

The Prosecutor appealed a marriage annulment granted by the lower court. A husband had requested the annulment on the grounds that his wife had deceived him regarding her virginity. The lower court had granted this annulment citing the wife's consent to the annulment as proof of her belief that her virginity was an essential determinant of her husband's consent to marriage. The Court of Appeals granted the appeal and rejected the marriage annulment, stating that a lie that does not concern an "essential quality" is not good grounds for the annulment of a marriage.

Cour d'appel de Rennes CT0011, 9 mai 2006, No. 634

The family court awarded the marital home to Appellant's wife under Section 220-1 of the Civil Code, which provides that where one spouse threatens or perpetrates violence, the judge may rule that the couple should live apart, allocating the marital dwelling to the spouse who was not the perpetrator of the violence. Appellant appealed on the grounds that he had limited income, that the dwelling was his childhood home, that his wife had left voluntarily, and that she, a native of Algeria, had only married him for a French residence permit.

Cour de Cassation Chambre criminelle, Rejet, 5 septembre 1990, No. 90-83.786

Appellant appealed his indictment for aggravated rape, assault, and torture and acts of barbarism against his wife, arguing that marriage creates a presumption of consent to sexual relations between spouses. The Court found that such a presumption is not conclusive and that Section 332 of the Penal Code, which defines rape as "[a]ny act of sexual penetration, whatever its nature, committed against another person by violence, constraint, threat or surprise," does not exclude the possibility of rape within a marital relationship where there is a lack of consent.

Cour de cassation Chambre criminelle, Rejet, 7 avril 1998 No. 97-84.068

Appellant was convicted of aggravated assault against his wife under Section 222-13 of the Penal Code, which provides that violence against a spouse is an aggravating circumstance that adds to the gravity of the original offense. Appellant appealed his conviction on the grounds that at the time of the violence the two spouses lived separately according to the orders of their on-going divorce proceedings.

Cour de cassation, Chambre civile 1, 10 février 2021, 19-22.793, Publié au Bulletin French Supreme Court (Cour de cassation), Civil division, 10 February 2021 No. 19-22.793

With the ruling for 19-22.793, the French Supreme Court reiterates that the family court has sovereign discretion to decide whether the conditions for issuing a protection order have been met. This decision reiterates that the characterisation of endangerment is decisive for justifying the issuance of a protection order. It should be noted that the law aimed at combating violence within the family has made the conditions for applying a protection order more flexible.

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