It's bad enough when your wife divorces you over a lack of sex and the judge rules you "solely responsible." It's worse when she takes you back to court two years later and garners 10,000 euro in damages.

But this apparently happened in—where else?—France, where a man known in court documents as Jean-Louis B. was ordered to pay out around $14,000 to his ex, answering the prayers of dozens of stand-up comedians and talk show monologue writers:

[T]he 47-year-old ex-wife then took him back to court demanding 10,000 euros in compensation for "lack of sex over 21 years of marriage".

The ex-husband claimed "tiredness and health problems" had prevented him from being more attentive between the sheets.

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

The ruling is based on "article 215 of France's civil code, which states married couples must agree to a 'shared communal life,'" which the judge holds includes sex.

[Telegraph; image via Shutterstock]