French lawmakers in the lower house of parliament on Thursday adopted a bill to repeal a 17th-century law that governed enslaved people across France’s colonies, in a symbolic and long-awaited move.
The National Assembly unanimously voted to approve the bill repealing the “Code Noir,” or Black Code.
In 1685, King Louis XIV passed the so called "Black Code", legislation meant to regulate the conditions of slavery in French colonies, including life, death, purchase, religion, and treatment of slaves by their ‘masters’.
It legalized the brutal treatment of slaves and foresaw capital punishment for offences including striking a “master.”
The code’s reach was total. Article 44 declared the enslaved “movable property.” Other sections ordered mutilation for those who fled and dictated that the word of an enslaved person counted for nothing.
