France Ends Colonial-Era ‘Black Code’ | Macron Hails Historic Repeal of 17th Century Slavery Law

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]Now on to more updates from around the world. In a historic and symbolic move, France's National Assembly voted unanimously to repeal Code Noir or the Black Code, ending the legal existence of one of the darkest remnants of the country's colonial past.

[00:00:16]The vote passed 254 to 0 with lawmakers across party lines backing the repeal.

[00:00:22]The centuries-old law introduced under King Louis XIV in 1980 in 1685, the Black Code laid down rules governing slavery in France's overseas colonies.

[00:00:35]The law classified enslaved people as movable property and granted legal protection to slave owners.

[00:00:42]Its 60 articles regulated nearly all aspects of enslaved life, including labor, punishment, marriage, and religion.

[00:00:51]Some clauses even permitted brutal punishment, mutilation, and the sale of enslaved individuals as commodities.

[00:00:59]Although France officially abolished slavery in 1848, the Black Code was never formally removed from the French law.

[00:01:08]President Emmanuel Macron recently acknowledged that the law should never have survived the abolition of slavery.

[00:01:20]Macron also said that the country's silence on the issue for nearly two centuries had become a form of offense.

[00:01:27]He further stated that France should not reject discussions around repatriations for slavery while cautioning against making what he called false promises.

[00:01:40]The debate in Parliament was highly emotional, especially for lawmakers from France's overseas territories whose ancestors were enslaved.

[00:01:52]>> This bill does not claim either to erase history or on its own to heal the wounds of history.

[00:02:00]25 years after the Taubira Law, which recognizes the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, it aims to take a further step. To take a powerful step of remembrance, justice, and recognition by formally repealing the Code Noir and all the texts deriving from it.