To end – or at least mitigate – confrontation between residents of French rural suburbs and their urban neighbors, the French Senate passed legislation protecting the national sensory heritage. In practice, this means that people who come on weekends to rural suburbs from “more urban” areas will no longer be able to demand to “suppress” the most typical French “hinterland” smells and sounds, even if they irritate them.
In announcing the Senate decision, Rural Minister Joel Giraud noted that local officials will decide what constitutes their “rural heritage, including sensory identity”. The new law was passed in response to numerous lawsuits between permanent residents of rural suburbs and tourists or owners of “weekend dachas” who complained about the sounds and smells emanated from animals.
The story of Maurice’s rooster, owned by Corinne Fesso, a resident of the village on the island of Oleron, received the most widespread response in France. His “crow” annoyed the elderly couple who owned the dacha next to Fesso’s house, where they lived only a few weeks a year. The couple complained about the noise, but in 2019 the judge decided that Maurice could make “whatever sounds he wants.” According to the new law, the chirping of cicadas, the croaking of frogs, the ringing of church bells and the clatter of tractors are also such “protected” sounds.
Rooster Maurice did not live to see the good news. But Giraud paid tribute to him in announcing the passage of the law. “This is a posthumous victory for the rooster Maurice, which has become a symbol of rural life,” the minister stressed.
Newspaper headline:
How does the village smell and sound?