French National Assembly unanimously votes to repeal colonial-era Code Noir slavery laws

The French National Assembly voted 254-0 on May 28, 2026, to repeal the Code Noir, a series of 17th- and 18th-century royal edicts that classified enslaved people as 'movable property' and were never formally abrogated after France abolished slavery definitively in 1848.

The bill, introduced by centrist Guadeloupean MP Max Mathiasin, now moves to the Senate for debate. President Emmanuel Macron backed the measure on May 21, saying the Code Noir's 60 articles 'should never have survived the abolition of slavery' and calling their continued existence 'a form of offense.'

The Code Noir was a series of royal edicts issued between 1685 and 1724. The first was signed by King Louis XIV at Versailles Palace in 1685. Article 44 designated enslaved people as 'movable property,' allowing masters to buy, sell, mortgage them, and leave them to their children. Article 28 stipulated that enslaved people could 'own nothing that does not belong to their master,' allowing them no name in law, only a number and registration code. Articles 2 and 3 required that all slaves be baptized and raised as Catholic.

France recognized slavery and the slave trade as crimes against humanity in the 2001 Taubira law. France was the third-largest European slave trader, after Britain and Portugal. An estimated 1.4 million Africans were trafficked on French ships.

'This proposal does not claim to erase history, nor to single-handedly heal the wounds of history,' Mathiasin said as he presented the law. 'It aims to take a new step, to make a powerful act of remembrance, justice and recognition, by formally repealing the Code noir and all the texts that stem from it.'

Greens lawmaker Steevy Gustave, whose father was born in Martinique, said the vote was personal. 'I'm thinking of my great-grandmother, Mama Bebelle,' he said, barely holding back tears. 'She was the grand-daughter of Ambroise Zerambe, born in Africa, then reduced to slavery under the number 336.'

The bill requires the government to report to parliament on the lasting effects of colonial law and slavery, including on racism and discrimination in French society and how the history of slavery is taught in schools.

The bill does not address reparations. Mathiasin said he did not want that issue to 'weigh down' the repeal. Serge Letchimy, former president of Martinique, wrote an open letter to Macron calling for 'a law that clearly establishes the principle that the crimes of trafficking and slavery have caused lasting historical, cultural, social, economic and psychological harm.'

The bill must still pass the French Senate.