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As of April 2, 1941, the Vichy regime adopted a new law on divorce and the separation of persons. In many respects, divorce symbolized the loss of control that the Third Republic was considered responsible for and that was considered responsible for the defeat. Setting the French nation straight meant a reform of morals, helped along by a reform of the Family Code, based on, in this case, increasing the time imposed on couples who wanted to get divorced. The political logic of this new legislation went up against the logic of war that made families split. The number of divorces pronounced dropped at the beginning of the Occupation and then slowly moved up to be, in 1944, almost at the same rate as pre-war. Judges were first inclined to apply the April 2, 1941 law strictly but then progressively moved away from the national revolution. At Liberation, divorce laws were relaxed by the April 12, 1945 ruling that accompanied the explosion in the number of divorces, characteristic of the end of war. However, just as for the Vichy government, the stability and morality of the family constituted the pillars of French reconstruction. Thus in divorce matters, continuity won over the attempt at change that the Fourth Republic put forward.