Within the next six months, married as well as co-habitating couples, both men and women, could face a fine, restraining order, or even jail time if they throw insults at their partner. Under this law, France will become the first country in the world to outlaw psychological violence in a marriage. The complete story can be found here.
I’m not sure what to think about this. I do believe that a law such as this would be hard to enforce, will bring even more complications to already violent situations, and seems to be somewhat vague. I suppose that a smart person could secretly videotape or tape record the offending conduct, but that presupposes that doing so is legal.
Ultimately, this will probably just result in a lot of he said – she said, but I suppose that only time will tell.