J.Y. Interpretation No. 147

Article 1001 of the Civil Code provides that spouses have a “mutual marital obligation to cohabit” absent legally justifiable reasons for not cohabiting. The Court held that a husband’s taking of a concubine violates the “marital obligation of fidelity” and qualifies as a legally justifiable reason for the wife not to cohabit with the husband. Thus, the Court held that a husband’s taking of a concubine releases his wife from her marital obligation to cohabit, but only for the period during which he maintains the concubine.