A woman has successfully sued her French husband for $13,000 owing to the fact that he did not have sex with her for "several years."

The woman, known to the press as Monique, has claimed 51-year-old Jean-Louis shirked his matrimonial duties to her over the course of their 21-year marriage, during which they lived on the French Riviera, raising their two children.

The court in Aix-en-Provence heard work and illness prevented Jean-Louis from regularly sleeping with his wife, the Daily Mail reports.

The judge referenced French laws which require both parties in a marriage to uphold "lifelong community, love and affection," which ultimately legally requires married couples to have sex.

The case was an unusual one for France, where it is rare for a husband or wife to pay financial compensation for failing to sexually satisfy their partner.

That being said, this case is surprising on so many sociological levels. According to Dr Gabrielle Voltaire Sisson, a French sexologist "The French have a reputation for being lovers. Quite frankly you can cut off a French man's penis, he'd still find a way to have sex," according to French magazine Femme.