A 51-year-old Frenchman has been ordered by the court to pay a whopping £8, 500 to his former wife in damages for absence of sufficient “affection” for the woman when their marriage was in existence.

The court found that, Jean-Louis B. simply failed to have enough sex with his ex-wife during their marriage.

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The man was therefore fined under article 215 of France’s civil code, which stipulates that married couples must agree to a “shared communal life”.

The court has now interpreted this law to imply that “sexual relations must form part of a marriage”.

The wife filed for divorce two years ago, blaming the break-up on her husband’s lack of activity in the bedroom which has led to this far reaching pronouncement by the court.

A judge in Nice, southern France, in granting the divorce ruled that, Louis B. was exclusively blamable for the break up.

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However, the 47-year-old ex-wife later returned to the court demanding 10,000 euros in compensation for “lack of sex over 21 years of marriage”.

Though the 51-year-old ex-husband gave an excuse that “tiredness and health problems” made it impossible for him to be active in bed as required of him, that excuse did not save him.

A judge in France’s south highest court in Aix-en-Provence ruled that, “a sexual relationship between husband and wife is the expression of affection they have for each other, and in this case it was absent.

“By getting married, couples agree to sharing their life and this clearly implies they will have sex with each other.”