However, "In the Middle Ages," writes Dewevre-Fourcade, who holds a doctorate in law, "the Church's influence increased; it began to view men and women who had come together without God's blessing as being in conflict with social morality. Thereafter, freely partnering outside the bonds of marriage became genuinely criminal behavior."
不過，「在中世紀，教會的影響力逐漸擴大；開始把未經上帝祝福的男女結合，視為與社會道德牴觸。於是沒有婚姻約束的自由結合，就成了一種真正的不法行為，」本身為法學博士的福卡寫道。