On Wednesday, France's top appeals court effectively invalidated treaty agreements that prevented citizens from 11 nations from marrying a person of the same sex in France, AFP reported.
The ruling from the Court of Cassation came in the case of a Moroccan and his French partner, who first tried to marry after France passed its Equal Marriage Law in 2013. But two days before their wedding, officials in the city of Chambery blocked it from proceeding.
Morocco is one of 11 nations that do not recognize same-sex marriage that had signed treaties that make their marriage laws binding on French officials when they receive a marriage request from a binational couple. Other countries with similar agreements include Laos and Poland.
The couple, who have been referred to only as Dominique and Mohammed in the press, won in two lower courts but prosecutors appealed those rulings. On Wednesday, the Court of Cassation ruled that such agreements were invalid when they are "obviously incompatible with public order." The court found that marriage is a fundamental right, and therefore these treaty obligations must be invalidated under this principle.