France Abolishes Code Noir, Slavery-Era Law, in Unanimous Vote
(MENAFN) France’s Senate voted unanimously Tuesday to strike the Code Noir from French law, erasing a 340-year-old set of royal decrees that codified slavery across the country’s colonial empire.
The vote confirmed a unanimous National Assembly decision from May and completed the legislative process for repeal, a French news portal reported.
Issued in 1685 under King Louis XIV, the Code Noir set out the rights, duties and restrictions of enslaved people and their owners in French colonies. It classified enslaved people as movable property that could be bought and sold. It also imposed brutal penalties on those who tried to flee, including mutilation, branding and execution.
France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848, but the decrees and related provisions were never formally removed from the statute books, even though they had long since lost legal force.
The new law also orders the government to deliver a report on the legacy of colonial-era legislation and its lasting effects, particularly on racism. The report must also address how slavery is taught in French schools.
The measure does not address calls for slavery reparations, a demand that continues to surface in several French overseas territories.
The vote confirmed a unanimous National Assembly decision from May and completed the legislative process for repeal, a French news portal reported.
Issued in 1685 under King Louis XIV, the Code Noir set out the rights, duties and restrictions of enslaved people and their owners in French colonies. It classified enslaved people as movable property that could be bought and sold. It also imposed brutal penalties on those who tried to flee, including mutilation, branding and execution.
France abolished slavery in its colonies in 1848, but the decrees and related provisions were never formally removed from the statute books, even though they had long since lost legal force.
The new law also orders the government to deliver a report on the legacy of colonial-era legislation and its lasting effects, particularly on racism. The report must also address how slavery is taught in French schools.
The measure does not address calls for slavery reparations, a demand that continues to surface in several French overseas territories.
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