Loi Marthe Richard
Loi Marthe Richard (Marthe Richard Law) of April 13, 1946 abolished the regime of regulated prostitution in France that had been in force since 1804. It required the closure of brothels ("maisons de tolérance"). The law bears the name of Marthe Richard, who was a municipal councillor of Paris but not a parliamentary representative.
Build up to the law
On December 13, 1945, Marthe Richard, elected councillor of the 4th arrondissement of Paris, presented to the Conseil municipal de Paris a proposal for the closure of Paris brothels. In her speech, she does not attack prostitutes as much as society, responsible in her view of "organized and patent debauchery" and organized crime, which benefits from regulated prostitution. She also reminds the council that prostitution was complicit with the German occupation during WWII. The proposal was voted and on December 20, 1945, the police prefect, Charles Luizet, was authorized to close, without notice, the houses of prostitution in the Department of the Seine within three months (by March 15, 1946, at the latest).
Encouraged by this success, Marthe Richard started a press campaign for a vote on a law generalizing these measures to all of France. It is supported by the "Ligue pour le relèvement de la moralité publique" (League of Social and Moral Action) and by the Minister of Public Health and Population, Robert Prigent.
On April 9, 1946, MP Marcel Roclore presented the Committee on the Family, Population, and Public Health report and concluded that brothel closures were necessary. The deputy Pierre Dominjon, member of the Ligue pour le relèvement de la moralité publique, tabled a proposal for a law which was voted on April 13, 1946 in the Chamber of Deputies. The closure of brothels takes effect from November 6, 1946. Withdrawing administrative authorizations without compensation marked the end of legalization and the start of a policy of abolitionism.
Consequences
After the adoption of the law, Marthe Richard ensured that Article 5, which ended keeping national files on prostitution, in which she was still recorded, was enacted. These police records were replaced by a health and social file for prostitutes (law of April 24, 1946) to prevent prostitutes with an STI from trying to evade the treatment of their disease. This law was little applied and was repealed on July 28, 1960, the date of French ratification of the United Nations Convention of December 2, 1949, for the Suppression of the Traffic in Persons and of the Exploitation of the Prostitution of Others. (France's late ratification of the convention was due to the existence of brothels in its colonial empire).
Approximately 1,400 establishments were closed, including 195 in Paris (177 official establishments): the best known were Le Chabanais, Le Sphinx, La Fleur blanche, One-Two-Two but also the maisons d’abattage (“slaughterhouses”) such as Le Fourcy and the Lanterne Verte.
This law caused smiles at the Brigade Mondaine of the 3rd floor of 36, quai des Orfèvres since it emanated from Marthe Richard, who was herself a prostitute until around 1915, when she wanted to make a clean sweep of her past. The police do not like the law because it risks depriving them of one of its sources of information (from the prostitutes). Prostitution was still a legal activity; only its organization, exploitation (procuring), visible manifestations, and offense of soliciting are prohibited by law, however, the police continue to tolerate bawdy houses. Many brothel owners turned themselves into owners of clandestine inns concentrated around French and American military barracks as well as in major cities. Whilst the law provided for the collection of prostitutes in "reception and outplacement centers", many continued their activities clandestinely.
Critics of French prostitution policy, such as Mouvement du Nid, question how effective this was, its implementation, and whether it closed the "maisons". For instance, they point to the presence of military brothels in Algeria till 1960.
Bibliography
- Natacha Henry, Marthe Richard, l'aventurière des maisons closes, La Librairie Vuibert, 2016
- Alphonse Boudard, La fermeture : 13 avril 1946, la fin des maisons closes, Robert Laffont, 1986
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