Du divorce et de la separation de corps en france au 19eme siecle

Divorce and legal separation in france in the 19 th century

• Auteur / Autrice : Francis Ronsin
• Direction : Jacques Perot
• Type : Thèse de doctorat
• Discipline(s) : Histoire
• Date : Soutenance en 1988
• Etablissement(s) : Paris 7

Mots clés

Mots clés libres

Histoire

Revolution francaise. Empire 19e siecle societe et mentalites histoire administrative. Institutions

Mariage

Divorce

Separation de corps

Famille

Demographie historique

Legislation matrimoniale

Premier empire

Second empire

Résumé

Jusqu'en 1792, en france, les unions conjugales ne pouvaient etre rompues mais seulement relachees grace a la separation de corps. En 1792, le divorce est autorise et, dans le meme temps, la separation de corps interdite. Le code civil de bonaparte permet de nouveau la separation de corps. En 1816, la restauration interdit le divorce. En 1830, comme en 1848, la liberte du divorce semble devoir etre retablie mais ne le sera finalement pas. Quelques jours avant d'etre ecrasee, la commune avait mis a l'etude le retablissement du divorce. Apres la victoire des republicains aux elections de 1876, les deputes discutent a nouveau du divorce qui est finalement retabli en 1884. Comment ne pas etre stupefait de voir ainsi la legislation du mariage systematiquement remise en cause a chacune des principales dates de l'histoire du 19eme siecle ? cette etroite correlation entre l'histoire des institutions politiques et l'histoire des institutions familiales a certainement ete beaucoup trop negligee par les specialistes de la ''grande histoire''. Tout aussi surprenant est de constater que si la question du divorce est passionnement debattue par les hommes politiques, les ecrivains, les philosophes sociaux, elle laisse relativement indifferente l'opinion publique. Les donnees statistiques que nous avons traitees montrent que les couples souhaitant leur. . .

Until 1792, in france, marriage could never be broken but merely loosened thanks to legal separation. In 1792, divorce became lawful and legal separation was forbidden concurrently. The bonaparte civil code authorized legal separation anew. In 1816, under the restauration, divorce was forbidden. In 1830 as well as in 1848, the liberty of divorce seemed likely to be restored but was not, eventually. A few days before being crushed down, the commune had started studying a project to reestablish the right to divorce. After the victory of the republicains at the 1876 election, the deputies debated the project and divorce was eventually re-established in 1884. It is striking to see marriage legislation being challenged at every main date in the history of the 19th century. This close relationship between the history of political institutions and the history of family institutions has been too much overlooked by the specialists of ''great'' history. And it is no less striking to note that while the divorce question is discussed with passion by the politicians, the writers, the social philosophers, public opinion seems relatively unconcerned. The statistics which we have analysed show that the couples wishing to break off were so few for a long time that they could well be considered as marginal. . .