Prostitution and the Object of the Contract: A Taboo Bargain
French law does not incriminate prostitution activities per se. Nevertheless, it considers the prostitution contract to be illicit, thereby equating it with exercising a tolerated liberty that the law refuses to regulate. An analysis of the object of the contract shows that this illicitness cannot be considered to rest on the human body's inalienability. From a legal standpoint, neither the obligations arising from the contract nor the performances expected from the parties present any genuine originality in relation to employment contracts or agreements to provide certain services (massage, breast feeding, etc.). Only the object of the contract, i.e. the nature of the bargain (sexual relations in exchange for money) may find the basis of its illicitness in its disregard for physical public order, the successor of morality.