The decision, which prevents French judges from making similar divorce rulings on sexual relations in the future, comes at a time when France is debating the concept of consent to its rape laws.

A French court had ruled that a woman had violated her marital duties by not having sex with her husband. The European Court of Human Rights condemned that decision.

Europe's top human rights court ruled the woman's right to respect for private and family life had been violated when French courts found her solely at fault for her divorce because she withheld sex.