The French parliament voted on a law banning parents from beating children to follow the example of most EU member states, although no penalty has been set for violating the law.
The Civil Code will be amended to state that parental authority must be exercised without violence and that parents should not resort to "physical, verbal or psychological violence, corporal punishment or humiliation."
Parliament passed the ban early on Friday with 51 votes in favor, one with and three abstentions.
The law abolishes rights granted by Napoleon to parents in the early 19th century and allows them to discipline children through corporal punishment.
"Violence education only leads to more violence in society," said Rep. Moe Butti of the center-right Democratic Movement party, an ally of President Emmanuel Macaron's Republican Party. It also leads to academic failure, illness, suicide, anti-social behavior and criminality. "
Marlin Chiapa, the state minister for gender equality, proposed the ban and told the Le Parisien newspaper that parents are right when they think screaming, slapping, or tensing are appropriate means of asserting their power.
"Violence can not be an educational tool."
French First Lady Brigitte Macaron supported the ban, but a few conservative and right-wing deputies denounced it as interference in the lives of families.