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The (, ''Black code'') was a decree passed by the
French King France was ruled by monarchs from the establishment of the Kingdom of West Francia in 843 until the end of the Second French Empire in 1870, with several interruptions. Classical French historiography usually regards Clovis I () as the firs ...
Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
in 1685 defining the conditions of
slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
in the
French colonial empire The French colonial empire () comprised the overseas colonies, protectorates and mandate territories that came under French rule from the 16th century onward. A distinction is generally made between the "First French Colonial Empire", that exist ...
. The decree restricted the activities of
free people of color In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
, mandated the conversion of all enslaved people throughout the empire to
Roman Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
, defined the punishments meted out to slaves, and ordered the expulsion of all
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
from France's colonies. The code's effects on the enslaved population of the French colonial empire were complex and multifaceted. It outlawed the worst punishments owners could inflict upon their slaves, and led to an increase in the free population. Despite this, enslaved persons were still subject to harsh treatment at the hands of their owners, and the expulsion of Jews was an extension of antisemitic trends in the
Kingdom of France The Kingdom of France ( fro, Reaume de France; frm, Royaulme de France; french: link=yes, Royaume de France) is the historiographical name or umbrella term given to various political entities of France in the medieval and early modern period. ...
. Free people of color were still placed under restrictions via the , but were otherwise free to pursue their own careers. Compared to other European colonies in the Americas, a free person of color in the French colonial empire was highly likely to be literate, and had a high chance of owning businesses, properties and even their own slaves. The code has been described by historian of modern France
Tyler Stovall Tyler Edward Stovall (April 9, 1954 – December 11, 2021) was an American academic and historian. He served as president of the American Historical Association in 2017. Biography Stovall earned a degree in history from Harvard University in 1976 ...
as "one of the most extensive official documents on race, slavery, and freedom ever drawn up in Europe".Stovall, p. 205.


Context, origin and scope


International and trade context

Codes governing slavery had already been established in many European colonies in the Americas, such as the 1661 Barbados Slave Code. At this time in the Caribbean, Jews were mostly active in the Dutch colonies, so their presence was seen as an unwelcome Dutch influence in French colonial life. Furthermore, the majority of the population in French colonies in the Americas were enslaved.
Plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Th ...
owners largely governed their land and holdings , with subordinate workers dictating the day-to-day running of the plantations. Because of their enormous population, in addition to the harsh conditions facing slaves, small-scale slave revolts were common. Despite containing some well-intended provisions, the was never effectively or strictly enforced, in particular regarding protection for slaves and limitations on corporal punishment. In his 1987 analysis of the 's significance, French philosopher
Louis Sala-Molins Louis Sala-Molins (born 1935) is an essayist and political philosophy professor at Paris-I and Toulouse-II universities.
claimed that its two primary objectives were to assert French sovereignty in its colonies and to secure the future of the
cane sugar Sucrose, a disaccharide, is a sugar composed of glucose and fructose subunits. It is produced naturally in plants and is the main constituent of white sugar. It has the molecular formula . For human consumption, sucrose is extracted and ref ...
plantation economy. Central to these goals was control of the slave trade. The code aimed to provide a legal framework for slavery, to establish protocols governing the conditions of inhabitants of the colonies, and to end the illegal slave trade. Religious morals also governed the crafting of the ; it was in part a result of the influence of the influx of Catholic leaders arriving in the
Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...
between 1673 and 1685.


Legal context

The title first appeared in 1712 during the regency of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, under minister
John Law John Law may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Law (artist) (born 1958), American artist * John Law (comics), comic-book character created by Will Eisner * John Law (film director), Hong Kong film director * John Law (musician) (born 1961) ...
, and referred to a compilation of two separate ordinances of
Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
from March and August 1685. One of the two regulated black slaves in the French islands of the Americas, while the other established the Sovereign Council of
Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...
. Subsequently, starting in 1723, two supplementary texts were added that instituted the code in the Mascarene Islands and
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
. The earliest of these constituent ordinances was drafted by the Naval Minister ('' secrétaire d'État à la Marine'') Marquis de Seignelay and promulgated in March 1685 by King
Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
with the title "". The only known manuscript of this law to have been preserved is currently in the ''Archives nationales d'outre-mer'' (French National Overseas Archives). The Marquis de Seignelay wrote the draft using legal briefs written by the first intendant of the French islands of the Americas, , as well as those of his successor Michel Bégon. Legal historians have debated whether other sources, such as Roman slavery laws, were consulted in the drafting of this original text. Studies of correspondence from Patoulet suggest that the 1685 ordinance drew mostly on local regulations provided in the colonial intendant's memoranda. The later two supplemental texts concerning the Mascarene Islands and Louisiana were drafted during Phillippe II's regency and ratified by
King Louis XV Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reached ...
(a minor of thirteen) in December 1723 and March 1724 respectively. It was also during the
Régence The ''Régence'' (, ''Regency'') was the period in French history between 1715 and 1723 when King Louis XV was considered a minor and the country was instead governed by Philippe d'Orléans (a nephew of Louis XIV of France) as prince regen ...
, that the first royal authorizations to practice the slave trade were given to shipowners in French ports. From the 18th century onward, the term was used not only to describe edits and additions to the original code, but also came to refer broadly to compilations of laws and other legal documents applicable to the colonies. Over time, the foundational ordinances and their associated texts were amended to meet the evolving needs of each colony. The New Orleans planters relaxed and adapted the slave regime towards the end of French administration.


Summary

In 60 articles, the document specified the following:


Legal status and incapacity of slaves

In the , the
slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
is considered property immune from seizure (article 44), yet also criminally liable (article 32). Article 48 stipulates that, in the case of a seizure of person (physical seizure), this is an exception to article 44. Should the human nature of the slave confer certain rights, the slave was nevertheless denied a true civil personality before the reforms adopted under the
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 ...
. According to French colonial legal historian Frédéric Charlin, an individual's legal capacity was fully dissociable from her humanity under old French law. Additionally, the legal status of slaves was further distinguished by the separation of field slaves (), the main workforce, from domestic slaves "of culture" (''esclave de culture''). Before the institution of the , slaves other than those "of culture" were considered fixtures (). The new status was adopted with such great reluctance on the part of local jurisdictions that it was necessary for a ruling of the King's Council of 22 August 1687 to take a position on the capacity of slaves because of the rules of succession applicable to the new status. Despite the 1804 creation of the Napoleonic Code and its partial promulgation in the Antilles, the re-institution of slavery in 1802 had led to the reinstatement of parts of ''Code noir'' which precluded Napoleonic rights. In the 1830s, under the civil code of the July Monarchy, slaves were explicitly given a civil personality while also considered as being fixtures, that is, personal property legally attached to and/or part of real estate or businesses. The status of the slave in is legally different from that of a
serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
primarily in that serfs could not be bought. According to anthropological historian Claude Massilloux, it is the mode of reproduction that distinguishes slavery from
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
: while a serf cannot be purchased, they reproduce through demographic growth. In Roman law (the ''
Digest Digest may refer to: Biology *Digestion of food *Restriction digest Literature and publications *'' The Digest'', formerly the English and Empire Digest *Digest size magazine format * ''Digest'' (Roman law), also known as ''Pandects'', a digest ...
''), a slave could be sold, given away, and legally passed to another owner as part of an estate or a legacy, but this could not be done with a serf. Contrary to serfdom, slaves were considered in Roman law to be objects of personal property that could be owned,
usufruct Usufruct () is a limited real right (or ''in rem'' right) found in civil-law and mixed jurisdictions that unites the two property interests of ''usus'' and ''fructus'': * ''Usus'' (''use'') is the right to use or enjoy a thing possessed, direct ...
, or used as a part of a
pledge Pledge may refer to: Promises * a solemn promise * Abstinence pledge, a commitment to practice abstinence, usually teetotalism or chastity * The Pledge (New Hampshire), a promise about taxes by New Hampshire politicians * Pledge of Allegianc ...
. In general, a slave could be said to have a much more restricted legal capacity than does a serf, simply due to the fact that serfs were considered right-holding individuals whereas slaves, although recognized as human beings, were not. Swiss Roman law scholar Pahud Samuel explains this paradoxical status as "the slave being a person in the natural sense and a thing in the civil law sense". The provided that slaves might lodge complaints with local judges in the case of mistreatment or being under-provided with necessities (article 26), but also that their statements should be considered only as reliable as that of minors or domestic servants.


Religion

The first article of the enjoins the expulsion of all
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
residing in the colonial territories due to their being "sworn enemies of the Christian faith" (), within three months under penalty of the confiscation of person and property. The Antillean Jews targeted by the were mainly descendants of families of Portuguese and Spanish origin who had come from the Dutch colony of
Pernambuco Pernambuco () is a state of Brazil, located in the Northeast region of the country. With an estimated population of 9.6 million people as of 2020, making it seventh-most populous state of Brazil and with around 98,148 km², being the ...
in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
. The writers of the code believed that blacks were human persons, endowed with a soul and receptive to salvation. The encouraged that slaves be
baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...
and educated in the Apostolic and
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
religion (article 2). Slaves had the right to marry (articles 10 and 11), provided the master allowed them to do so, and had to be buried in
consecrated ground In Christian countries a churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church, which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language and in both Scottish English and Ulster-Scots, this can al ...
if they were baptized (article 14). The code prohibited slaves from publicly practicing any religion other than the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman Catholic religion (article 3), including the practice of the
Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...
faith (article 5). The code extends the punishment of
pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...
slave
conventicle A conventicle originally signified no more than an assembly, and was frequently used by ancient writers for a church. At a semantic level ''conventicle'' is only a good Latinized synonym of the Greek word church, and points to Jesus' promise in M ...
s to masters who allow such behavior. The code prohibited masters from having or to allowing adulterous relations with their slaves and decreed a substantial fine of two thousand pounds of sugar in addition to the confiscation of the children and of the mother. The code encouraged free men to marry, in the proper manner observed by the Church, a slave in
concubinage Concubinage is an interpersonal and sexual relationship between a man and a woman in which the couple does not want, or cannot enter into a full marriage. Concubinage and marriage are often regarded as similar but mutually exclusive. Concubin ...
such that the slave and the children would become free and legitimate (article 9).


Sexual relations, marriage, and progeny

* Weddings between slaves strictly required the master's permission (art. 10) but also required the slave's own consent (art. 11) * Children born to married slaves were also slaves, belonging to the female slave's master (art. 12) * Children of a male slave and a free woman were free; children of a female slave and a free man were slaves (art. 13; compare
partus sequitur ventrem ''Partus sequitur ventrem'' (L. "That which is born follows the womb"; also ''partus'') was a legal doctrine passed in colonial Virginia in 1662 and other English crown colonies in the Americas which defined the legal status of children born th ...
)


Prohibitions

* Slaves must not carry weapons except with the permission of their masters for hunting (art. 15) * Slaves belonging to different masters must not gather at any time under any circumstance (art. 16) * Slaves should not sell sugar cane, even with permission of their masters (art. 18) * Slaves should not sell any other commodity without permission of their masters (art. 19–21) * Masters must give food (quantities specified) and clothes to their slaves, even to those who were sick or old (art. 22–27) * (unclear) Slaves could testify but only for information (art. 30–32) * A slave who struck his or her master, his wife, mistress or children would be executed (art. 33) * A slave husband and wife and their prepubescent children under the same master were not to be sold separately (art. 47)


Punishments

* Fugitive slaves absent for a month should have their ears cut off and be branded. For another month their
hamstring In human anatomy, a hamstring () is any one of the three posterior thigh muscles in between the hip and the knee (from medial to lateral: semimembranosus, semitendinosus and biceps femoris). The hamstrings are susceptible to injury. In quadrupe ...
would be cut and they would be branded again. A third time they would be executed (art. 38) * Free blacks who harboured fugitive slaves would be beaten by the slave owner and fined 300 pounds of sugar per day of refuge given; other free people who harboured fugitive slaves would be fined 10 per day (art. 39) * If a master had falsely accused a slave of a crime and as a result, the slave had been put to death, the master would be fined (art. 40) * Masters might chain and beat slaves but might not torture nor mutilate them (art. 42) * Masters who killed their slaves would be punished (art. 43) * Slaves were community property and could not be mortgaged, and must be equally split between the master's heirs, but could be used as payment in case of debt or bankruptcy, and otherwise sold (art. 44–46, 48–54)


Freedom

* Slave masters 20 years of age (25 years without parental permission) could free their slaves (art. 55) * Slaves who were declared to be sole legatees by their masters, or named as executors of their wills, or tutors of their children, should be considered as freed slaves (art. 56) * Freed slaves were French subjects, even if born elsewhere (art. 57) * Freed slaves had the same rights as French colonial subjects (art. 58, 59) * Fees and fines paid with regard to the must go to the royal administration, but one third would be assigned to the local hospital (art. 60)


Délits and punishments

The Code Noir permitted corporal punishment for slaves and provides for disfigurement by branding with an iron, as well as for the
death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
(articles 33-36 and 38). Runaway slaves who had disappeared for a month were to have their ears cut off and be branded with the
fleur-de-lis The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the ...
. In the case of recidivism, the slave's hamstring would be cut. Should there be a third attempt, the slave would be put to death. It is important to note that these kinds of punishments (branding by iron, mutilation, etc.) also existed in metropolitan France's penological practice at the time. Punishments were a matter of
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
or royal law, where the disciplinary power over slaves could be considered more severe than that for domestic servants yet less severe than that for soldiers. Masters could only chain and whip slaves "when they believe that their slaves deserved it" and cannot, at will, torture their slaves, or put them to death. The death penalty was reserved for those slaves who had struck their master, his wife, or his children (article 33) as well as for thieves of horses or cows (article 35) (
larceny Larceny is a crime involving the unlawful taking or theft of the personal property of another person or business. It was an offence under the common law of England and became an offence in jurisdictions which incorporated the common law of Eng ...
by domestic servants was also punishable by death in France). The third attempt to escape (article 38) and the congregation of recidivist slaves belonging to different masters (article 16) were also offenses punishable by death. Although it was.forbidden for the master to mistreat, injure, or kill his slaves, he nevertheless possessed disciplinary power (article 42) according to the Code. "Masters shall only, when they believe that their slaves so deserve, be able to chain them and have them beaten with rods or straps", similar to pupils, soldiers, or sailors. Article 43 addresses itself to judges: "to punish murder while taking into account the atrocity of the circumstances; in the case of absolution, our officers will…” The most serious punishments, such as the cutting of the ears or of the hamstring, branding, and death are prescribed by a criminal court in the case of conviction and imposed by a magistrate rather than by the slave's master. However, in reality, the conviction of masters for the murder or torture of slaves was very rare.


Seizure and slaves as chattels

With respect to the inheritance of property, estate, and seizures, slaves were considered to be
personal property property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...
(article 44), that is, considered separate from the estate on which they live (which was not the case with serfs). Despite this, slaves could not be seized by a creditor as property independent of the estate, with the exception of compensating the seller of the slaves (article 47). According to the Code, slaves can be bought, sold, and given like any chattels. Slaves were provided no name or civil registration, rather, starting in 1839, they were given a serial number. Following the 1848 abolition of slavery under the
French Second Republic The French Second Republic (french: Deuxième République Française or ), officially the French Republic (), was the republican government of France that existed between 1848 and 1852. It was established in February 1848, with the February Re ...
, a name was assigned to each former slave. Slaves could testify, have a proper burial (for those
baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost i ...
), lodge complaint, and, with the master's permission, have savings, marry, etc. Nevertheless, their
legal capacity Legal capacity is a quality denoting either the legal aptitude of a person to have rights and liabilities (in this sense also called transaction capacity), or altogether the personhood itself in regard to an entity other than a natural person ( ...
was still more restrictive than that of minors or domestic servants (articles 30 and 31). Slaves had no right to personal possessions and could not
bequeath Historically, a bequest is personal property given by will and a devise is real property given by will. Today, the two words are often used interchangeably. The word ''bequeath'' is a verb form for the act of making a bequest. Etymology Bequest c ...
anything to their families. Upon the death of the slave, all remained property of the master (article 28). Married slaves and their prepubescent children could not be separated through
seizure An epileptic seizure, informally known as a seizure, is a period of symptoms due to abnormally excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain. Outward effects vary from uncontrolled shaking movements involving much of the body with lo ...
or sale (article 47).


Emancipation / manumission

Slaves could be
manumitted Manumission, or enfranchisement, is the act of freeing enslaved people by their enslavers. Different approaches to manumission were developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. Historian Verene Shepherd states that t ...
by their owner (article 55), in which case no
naturalization Naturalization (or naturalisation) is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen of a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done automatically by a statute, i.e., without any effort on the part of the in ...
records were required for French citizenship, even if the individual was born abroad (article 57). However, starting in the 18th century, manumission required authorization as well as the payment of an administrative tax. The tax was first instituted by local officials, but later affirmed by the edict of 24 October 1713 and the royal ordinance of 22 May 1775. Manumission was considered
de jure In law and government, ''de jure'' ( ; , "by law") describes practices that are legally recognized, regardless of whether the practice exists in reality. In contrast, ("in fact") describes situations that exist in reality, even if not legall ...
if a slave was designated the sole
legatee A legatee, in the law of wills, is any individual or organization bequeathed any portion of a testator's estate. Usage Depending upon local custom, legatees may be called "devisees". Traditionally, "legatees" took personal property under will a ...
of the master (article 56).


Adoptive territories

Based on the fundamental law that any man who sets foot on French soil is free, various parliaments refused to pass the original ''Ordonnance ou édit de mars 1685 sur les esclaves des îles de l'Amérique'' which was ultimately instituted only in the colonies for which the edict was written: the Sovereign Council of
Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
on 6 August 1685, Guadeloupe on 10 December of the same year, and in Petit-Goâve before the Council of the French colony of
Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...
on 6 May 1687. Finally, the Code was passed before the councils of
Cayenne Cayenne (; ; gcr, Kayenn) is the capital city of French Guiana, an overseas region and department of France located in South America. The city stands on a former island at the mouth of the Cayenne River on the Atlantic coast. The city's m ...
and Guiana on 5 May 1704. While the Code Noir was also applied in the colony of
Saint Christopher Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is venerated by several Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman emperor Decius (reigned 249–251) or alternatively ...
, the date of its institution is unknown. The edicts of December 1723 and March 1724 were instituted in the islands of
Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island o ...
(Île Bourbon) and
Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...
(Île de France) as well as in the colony and province of
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
, in 1724. The Code Noir was not intended for northern
New France New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
(present day Canada) which followed the general principle of French law that
Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
of lands conquered or surrendered to the
Crown A crown is a traditional form of head adornment, or hat, worn by monarchs as a symbol of their power and dignity. A crown is often, by extension, a symbol of the monarch's government or items endorsed by it. The word itself is used, partic ...
should be considered free royal subjects ( régnicoles) upon their baptism. Various local indigenous customs were collected to create the Custom of Paris. However, on 13 April 1709, an ordinance created by
Acadian The Acadians (french: Acadiens , ) are an ethnic group descended from the French who settled in the New France colony of Acadia during the 17th and 18th centuries. Most Acadians live in the region of Acadia, as it is the region where the desc ...
colonial intendant
Jacques Raudot Jacques Raudot (1638 - 20 February 1728, Paris) was the co-Intendant of New France between 1705 and 1710 with his son Antoine-Denis Raudot. In 1709 Raudot issued an ordinance to clarify whether individuals could legally own slaves, in New Fra ...
imposed regulations on slavery thereby recognizing,
de facto ''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with '' de jure'' ("by l ...
, its existence in the territory. The ordinance elaborated little on the legal status of slaves, but generally characterized slavery as "a kind of convention" that is "very useful for this colony", proclaiming that "all Panis and Negroes who have been purchased or who will be purchased at some time, will belong to those who have purchased them as their full property and be known as their slaves".


After the Revolution

''The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen'' of 1789 articulated the principle of equal rights from birth for all, but under the lobbying influence of the Massiac Club of plantation and slave owners, the National Constituent Assembly and the Legislative Assembly decided that this equality applied only to the inhabitants of
metropolitan France Metropolitan France (french: France métropolitaine or ''la Métropole''), also known as European France (french: Territoire européen de la France) is the area of France which is geographically in Europe. This collective name for the European ...
, where there were no slaves and where
serfdom Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which develop ...
had been abolished for centuries. The American territories were excluded. After Saint-Domingue (present day
Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and s ...
) abolished slavery locally in 1793, the
French National Convention The National Convention (french: link=no, Convention nationale) was the parliament of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for the rest of its existence during the French Revolution, following the two-year National ...
did the same on 4 February 1794, for all French colonies. This would only be effective, however, in Saint-Domingue,
Guadeloupe Guadeloupe (; ; gcf, label= Antillean Creole, Gwadloup, ) is an archipelago and overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands— Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galante, La Désirade, and ...
, and Guiana, because
Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
was, at this time, a British colony and
Mascarene The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Thei ...
colonists forcibly opposed the
institution Institutions are humanly devised structures of rules and norms that shape and constrain individual behavior. All definitions of institutions generally entail that there is a level of persistence and continuity. Laws, rules, social conventions a ...
of the 1794 decree when it finally arrived to the isle in 1796.
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
reinstated slavery on 20 May 1802 in Martinique and the Mascarenes, as the islands had been returned by the British after the
Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (french: la paix d'Amiens, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it s ...
. Soon after, he reestablished slavery in Guadeloupe (on 16 July 1802) and Guiana (in December 1802). Slavery was not reestablished in Saint-Domingue due to the resistance of the Haitians against the expeditionary corps sent by Bonaparte, a resistance which eventually resulted in the independence of the colony and the formation of the Republic of Haiti on 1 January 1804. The Code Noir coexisted for forty-three years with the Napoleonic code despite the contradictory nature of the two texts, but this arrangement became increasingly difficult due to the French Court of Cassation rulings on local jurisdictions' decisions following the 1827 and 1828 ordinances on civil procedures. According to historian Frédéric Charlin, in metropolitan France, "the two decades of the
July Monarchy The July Monarchy (french: Monarchie de Juillet), officially the Kingdom of France (french: Royaume de France), was a liberal constitutional monarchy in France under , starting on 26 July 1830, with the July Revolution of 1830, and ending 23 ...
were characterized by a political trend to endow the slave with a certain level of humanity… nd toencourage a slow assimilation of the slave into other workforces of French society through moral and family values".Frédéric Charlin, « », ''https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01926560/document'', 2010, p. 45 The
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning ...
of the Court of Cassation under the July Monarchy was marked by a gradual recognition of a legal personhood for slaves. Accordingly, the 1820s saw a general
abolitionist Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, is the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people. The British ...
trend, but one that was mainly preoccupied with a gradual
emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranch ...
that paralleled improved conditions for slaves. The revolution of February 1848 and the creation of the Second Republic brought prominent abolitionists such as Cremieux,
Lamartine Alphonse Marie Louis de Prat de Lamartine (; 21 October 179028 February 1869), was a French author, poet, and statesman who was instrumental in the foundation of the Second Republic and the continuation of the Tricolore as the flag of France. ...
, and
Ledru-Rollin Alexandre Auguste Ledru-Rollin (; 2 February 1807 – 31 December 1874) was a French lawyer, politician and one of the leaders of the French Revolution of 1848. Youth The grandson of Nicolas Philippe Ledru, the celebrated quack doctor known ...
to power. One of the first acts of the Provisional Government of 1848 was to establish a commission to "prepare for the act of emancipation of slaves of the colonies of the Republic". The commission was completed and presented to the government in less than two months and subsequently instituted on 27 April 1848. The enslavement of black people in French colonies was definitively abolished on 4 March and 27 April 1848. Due in large part to the actions of Victor Schoelcher, the slave trade had already been abolished in 1815, following the
Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...
. Article 8 of the decree of 27 April 1848 extended the Second Republic's ban on slavery to all French citizens residing in foreign countries where the possession of slaves was legal, while according them a
grace period A grace period is a period immediately after the deadline for an obligation during which a late fee, or other action that would have been taken as a result of failing to meet the deadline, is waived provided that the obligation is satisfied durin ...
of three years to conform to the new law. In 1848, there numbered around 20,000 French nationals in
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
,
Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
,
Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, and in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Louisiana was, by far, the region home to the most slave owning French, who, despite the 1803 sale of the territory to the U.S. government, retained citizenship. Article 8 forbade all French citizens "to buy, sell slaves, or to participate, whether directly or indirectly, in any traffic or exploitation of this nature". The application of this law was not accomplished without difficulty in these regions, with Louisiana being particularly problematic.


The development of slavery in the French Antilles


The origins of enslaved populations

The edict of 1685 bridged a legal void, because, while slavery had existed in the
French Caribbean The French West Indies or French Antilles (french: Antilles françaises, ; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy fwansez) are the parts of France located in the Antilles islands of the Caribbean: * The two overseas departments of: ** Guadeloupe, ...
since at least 1625, it was nonexistent in metropolitan France. The first official French establishment in the
Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...
was the Company of Saint Christopher and neighboring islands (Compagnie de Saint-Christophe et îles adjacentes) which was founded by
Cardinal Richelieu Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
in 1626. In 1635, 500-600 slaves were acquired, through what was essentially a seizure of a
slave ship Slave ships were large cargo ships specially built or converted from the 17th to the 19th century for transporting slaves. Such ships were also known as "Guineamen" because the trade involved human trafficking to and from the Guinea coast ...
ment from the
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
. Later, the number was increased by slaves brought from Guinea aboard
Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...
or French ships. With the island becoming overpopulated, there were efforts to colonize Guadeloupe with the aid of French recruits in 1635, as well as Martinique with the aid of 100 "old residents" of Saint Christopher in the same year. In Guadeloupe, the influx of slaves started in 1641 with the Company of Saint Christopher (by this date renamed Company of the American Isles and owner of multiple islands) importing 60 enslaved people. Then, in 1650, the company imported 100 more. Starting in 1653-1654 the population greatly increased with the arrival of 50 Dutch nationals to the French isles, who had been run out of Brazil, taking with them 1200 black and
métis The Métis ( ; Canadian ) are Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples who inhabit Canada's three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces, as well as parts of British Columbia, the Northwest Territories, and the Northern United State ...
slaves. Subsequently, 300 people composed mainly of a few
Flemish Flemish (''Vlaams'') is a Low Franconian dialect cluster of the Dutch language. It is sometimes referred to as Flemish Dutch (), Belgian Dutch ( ), or Southern Dutch (). Flemish is native to Flanders, a historical region in northern Belgium; ...
families and a great many slaves, settled in Martinique. Many of these immigrants were Sephardic Jewish planters from Bahia, Dutch Pernambuco, and Suriname, who brought sugarcane infrastructure to French Martinique and English
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...
. Although colonial authorities were hesitant to allow entry to the Jewish families, the French decided that their capital and proficiency in cane cultivation would benefit the colony. Some historians suggest that these Jewish planters, such as Benjamin da Costa d'Andrade, were responsible for introducing commercial sugar production to the French Antilles.Maurouard, Elvire. Juifs de Martinique et Juifs Portugais sous Louis XIV. Éditions Du Cygne, 2009. After the Da Costa family founded the first synagogue of Martinique in 1676, the visible Jewish presence in Martinique and Saint-Domingue led Jesuit missionaries to petition for the expulsion of Jews and other non-Catholics to both local and metropolitan authorities.Breathett, George. "Catholicism and the Code Noir in Haiti". The Journal of Negro History, vol. 73, no. 1/4, Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, Inc, 1988, pp. 1–11, https://doi.org/10.1086/JNHv73n1-4p1. This precipitated an edict expelling Jews from the colonies in 1683, which would be incorporated into the Code Noir. The Jewish population of Martinique was likely the specific target of the antisemitic clause (article 1) of the original 1685 Code. These settlers' arrival in the 1650s marked the second stage of colonization. Until then,
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
and
indigo Indigo is a deep color close to the color wheel blue (a primary color in the RGB color space), as well as to some variants of ultramarine, based on the ancient dye of the same name. The word "indigo" comes from the Latin word ''indicum'', ...
cultivation had been the mainstay of colonial efforts and had required more
laborers A laborer (or labourer) is a person who works in manual labor types in the construction industry workforce. Laborers are in a working class of wage-earners in which their only possession of significant material value is their labor. Industries ...
than slaves, but this trend was reversed around 1660 with the development of cane cultivation and large plantation estates. Thereafter, the French State made the facilitation of the
slave trade Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
a matter of primary concern and worked to undercut foreign competition, particularly Dutch slavers. It is undeniable that the
French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in th ...
, as the owner of slaveholding isles, took part in the slave trade, even though commercial slavery was not explicitly stated in the 1664 edict that chartered the company. The word "trade" was generally defined as any form of trade or commerce and did not exclude commerce in slaves as it might today. Despite the creation of various incentive plans in 1670, 1671, and 1672, the company went bankrupt in 1674 and the islands in its possession became
crown lands Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an Fee tail, entailed Estate (land), estate and passes with the monarchy, be ...
(''domaine royal''). The monopoly on the Caribbean trade was given to the Senegal Company (''Première compagnie d'Afrique ou du Sénégal'') in 1679. To amend what was seen as an insufficient supply,
Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...
created the Company of Guinea (''Compagnie de Guinée''—not to be confused with the 17th century English colonial enterprise Guinea Company) to provide a yearly supplement of 1000 black slaves to the French isles. To solve the "negro shortage", in 1686, the King personally chartered a slave ship for operation in
Cape Verde , national_anthem = () , official_languages = Portuguese , national_languages = Cape Verdean Creole , capital = Praia , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , demonym ...
. At the time of the first official census of Martinique, taken in 1660, there were 5259 inhabitants, 2753 of which were white and already 2644 were black slaves. There were only 17 Indigenous Caribbeans and 25
mulatto (, ) is a racial classification to refer to people of mixed African and European ancestry. Its use is considered outdated and offensive in several languages, including English and Dutch, whereas in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese ...
es. Twenty years later, in 1682, the number of inhabitants had tripled to 14,190 with a white population that had barely doubled, but with a slave population that had grown to 9634, and with the Indigenous population at a mere 61, slaves made up 68% of the total population. In all of the colonies, there was a great disparity between the number of men and women which led to men having children with Indigenous women, who were free persons, or with slaves. With white women being rare and black women seeking to improve their circumstances, by 1680 the census showed 314 métis people in Martinique (twelve times the count in 1660), 170 in Guadeloupe, and 350 in
Barbados Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of the Americas, and the most easterly of the Caribbean Islands. It occupies an area of and has a population of about 287,000 (2019 estima ...
where the slave population was eight times that of Guadeloupe but where
miscegenation Miscegenation ( ) is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races. The word, now usually considered pejorative, is derived from a combination of the Latin terms ''miscere'' ("to mix") and ''genus'' ("race") ...
(métissage) was illegalized after the rise of sugarcane cultivation. To mitigate the deficit of women in the Antilles,
Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
enacted a similar measure to the King's Daughters of New France and sent 250 girls to Martinique and 165 to Saint-Domingue. Compared to its English counterpart, which sent condemned criminals and exiled populations, the French migration was voluntary.
Creolization Creolization is the process through which creole languages and cultures emerge. Creolization was first used by linguists to explain how contact languages become creole languages, but now scholars in other social sciences use the term to describe ne ...
was unavoidable due to basic
endogamous Endogamy is the practice of marrying within a specific social group, religious denomination, caste, or ethnic group, rejecting those from others as unsuitable for marriage or other close personal relationships. Endogamy is common in many cultu ...
tendencies, with colored women being preferred as many colonists considered the new arrivals to be foreigners. The authorities were not concerned with miscegenation per se, but rather the resulting manumission of mulatto children. For this reason, the Code inverted basic patrimonial French custom in maintaining that even if the father is free, the children of an enslaved woman shall be slaves unless they are rendered legitimate through the marriage of the parents, which was a rare occurrence. In subsequent regulation, marriage between free and slave populations would be further limited. The Code Noir also more sharply defined the status of métis people. In 1689, four years after its promulgation, around one hundred mulattoes left the French Antilles for New-France, where all men were considered free.


Development


Goals

The Code Noir was a multifaceted legal document designed to govern every aspect of the lives of enslaved and free African people under French colonial rule. While Enlightenment thinking about liberty and tolerance prevailed dominantly in French society, it became necessary to clarify that people of African descent did not belong under this umbrella of understanding. It was essential to the preservation of France’s economy and colonial interests that Black people residing in French colonies maintain their status as property rather than become French subjects. The Code Noir was also conceived to “maintain the discipline of the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman church” in the French colonies. It required that all enslaved people of African descent in the French colonies receive baptism, religious instruction, and the same practices and sacraments for slaves as it did for free persons. While it did grant enslaved people the right to rest on Sundays and holidays, to formally marry through the church, and to be buried in proper cemeteries, forced religious conversion was just one of the many methods that France used to attempt to 'civilize' and exert their imperial control over the Black population in the French colonies. The Code thus gave a guarantee of morality to the Catholic nobility that arrived in Martinique between 1673 and 1685. Of these, were Knight Charles François d'Angennes, the marquis of Maintenon and his nephew Jean-Jacques Mithon de Senneville, the colonial intendant Jean-Baptiste Patoulet, Charles de Courbon, the count of Blénac, and the militia captain
Nicolas de Gabaret Gabriel-Jean Nicolas Gabaret de Saint-Sornin (18 August 1641 – 25 June 1712) was a French colonial official who was governor of Grenada in the French West Indies, and then for over twenty years was governor of Martinique. He was deputy to the g ...
.


Juridical origins and similar legislation


English colonies

In the English colonies, the Barbados Lifetime Slavery Decree of 1636 was instituted by governor
Henry Hawley Henry Hawley (12 January 1685 – 24 March 1759) was a British army officer who served in the wars of the first half of the 18th century. He fought in a number of significant battles, including the Capture of Vigo in 1719, Dettingen, Fo ...
on his return to England after having entrusted Barbados to his deputy governor Richard Peers. In 1661, the Barbados Slave Code reiterated this 1636 decree and the 1662 Virginia slave law passed by governor William Berkeley under the reign of Charles II used similar jurisprudence. The 1661 law held that a slave could only produce enslaved children and that mistreatment of a slave could be justified in certain cases. The law also incorporated the Elizabeth Key case (a mulatto slave, daughter of a white plantation owner, who converted to
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global popula ...
and successfully
sued - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil acti ...
for her freedom) which was contested by the white aristocracy who held that paternity and conversion were unable to confer freedom.


French colonies

Contrary to the thinking of legal theorists such as Leonard Oppenheim, Alan Watson, and Hans W. Baade, it was not slave legislation from
Roman law Roman law is the legal system of ancient Rome, including the legal developments spanning over a thousand years of jurisprudence, from the Twelve Tables (c. 449 BC), to the '' Corpus Juris Civilis'' (AD 529) ordered by Eastern Roman emperor J ...
that served as inspiration for the Code Noir, but rather a collection and codification of the local customs, decisions, and regulations used in the Antilles. According to legal scholar Vernon Palmer, who has described the lengthy 4-year decision-making process that led to the original 1685 edict, the project consisted of 52 articles for the first draft and preliminary report, as well as the instructions of the King. In 1681, the King decided to create a
statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by ...
for the black population of the French Caribbean and delegated its writing to Colbert, who, in turn, requested memoranda from the colonial intendant of Martinique, Jean-Baptiste Patoulet and later from his replacement, Michel Bégon, as well as the governor general of the Caribbean, Charles de Courbon, comte de Blenac (1622-1696). The ''Mémoire'' (memorandum) of 30 April 1681 from the King to the intendant (who was probably Colbert), expressed the utility of making an ordinance specific to the Antilles. The study, which incorporated local legal customs, decisions, and jurisprudence of the Sovereign Council, as well as a number of rulings by the King's Council, was challenged by the members of the Sovereign Council. When negotiations settled, the draft was sent to the chancellery which retained what was essential and only reinforced or streamlined the articles such that they were compatible with preexisting laws and institutions. At the time, there were two common law statutes in effect in Martinique: that pertaining to French nationals, which was the Custom of Paris as well as laws for foreigners, which did not include rules particular to soldiers, nobles, or clergy. These statutes were included in the Edict of May 1664 which established the
French West India Company The French West India Company (french: Compagnie française des Indes occidentales) was a French trading company founded on 28 May 1664, some three months before the foundation of the corresponding eastern company, by Jean-Baptiste Colbert and diss ...
. The American Isles were
enfeoffed In the Middle Ages, especially under the European feudal system, feoffment or enfeoffment was the deed by which a person was given land in exchange for a pledge of service. This mechanism was later used to avoid restrictions on the passage of ti ...
or conceded to the company, whose formation had replaced the Company of Saint Christopher (1626-1635), but would eventually be succeeded by the Company of the American Isles (1635-1664). The
Indigenous population Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
, called Caribbean Indians (Indiens caraïbes), were seen as naturalized French subjects, and were provided the same rights as French nationals upon their baptism. It was forbidden to enslave Indigenous peoples, or to sell them as slaves. Two populations were provided for: natural populations and native French, as the Edict of 1664 did not describe slaves or the importation of a black population. The French West India Company had gone bankrupt in 1674, with its commercial activities having been transferred to the Senegal Company and its territories returned to the Crown. The rulings of the Sovereign Council of Martinique patched the legal hole concerning slave populations. In 1652, at the behest of
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
missionaries, the Council reified the rule that slaves, like domestic servants, shall not be made to work on Sundays and in 1664, held that slaves would be required to be baptized and to attend
catechism A catechism (; from grc, κατηχέω, "to teach orally") is a summary or exposition of doctrine and serves as a learning introduction to the Sacraments traditionally used in catechesis, or Christian religious teaching of children and adul ...
. The edict of 1685 ratified the practice of slavery despite the conflicting legislation of the Kingdom of France and canon law. In fact, an ''Edict bringing emancipation in exchange for payment to the
serfs Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism, and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, which developed ...
of the King's domain'', had been introduced on 11 July 1315, by Louis X the Stubborn, but had limited effect due to a lack of control of the King's officers and/or the fact that few serfs possessed sufficient funds to buy their liberty. Such forms of
indentured servitude Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract, called an " indenture", may be entered "voluntarily" for purported eventual compensation or debt repayme ...
existed up until the ''Edict for the suppression of the right of
mortmain Mortmain () is the perpetual, inalienable ownership of real estate by a corporation or legal institution; the term is usually used in the context of its prohibition. Historically, the land owner usually would be the religious office of a church ...
and of servitude in the domains of the King'' of 8 August 1779, which was passed by
Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
, intended for certain regions that had recently become part of the kingdom. The edict was not concerned with personal servitude, but rather real servitude or mortmain, which is to say that the denizen/owner could not sell or bequeath the land, as if the denizen/owner were only a
renter Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for ...
. The lord possessed the droit de suite, meaning that the lord could retain any fee or proceeds resulting from the passing of the censive (the right to live on the estate and to pay tribute or cens to the lord).


The King’s order through Colbert and the centrality of Martinique

Sick since 1681, Colbert died in 1683, less than two years after having transmitted the King's order to the two successive intendants of Martinique, Patoulet and Bégon. Colbert's son, the Marquis of Seignelay, signed the ordinance two years after his death. The colonial intendants' work was centered in Martinique, where multiple nobles of the royal entourage had received estates and where Patoulet had requested Louis XIV to ennoble the plantation owners who owned more than one hundred slaves. The opinions recorded in the memoranda were entirely from Martinicans with no one from Guadeloupe, where métis and the large plantation owners were fewer. The first letter from Colbert to intendant Patoulet and governor general of the Antilles Charles de Courbon, count of Blénac, reads:
"His Majesty finds it necessary to regulate, by declaration, all that concerns the negros of the isles, both for the punishment of their crimes and for all that might concern the justice to be dealt them. It is for this that it be necessary for you to create a memorandum as precise and extensive as possible, which considers all the cases having to do with said negros and which might merit regulation by an order. You must be well acquainted with the present customs of the isles as well as what should be customary in the future".


Impact


Opinions

In his 1987 analysis of the Code Noir and its applications,
Louis Sala-Molins Louis Sala-Molins (born 1935) is an essayist and political philosophy professor at Paris-I and Toulouse-II universities.
, professor emeritus of political philosophy at Paris 1, argues that the Code Noir is the "most monstrous juridical text produced in modern times". According to Sala-Molins, the Code Noir served two purposes: to affirm "the sovereignty of the State in its farthest territories" and to create favorable conditions for the sugarcane commerce. "In this sense, the Code Noir foresaw a possible sugar
hegemony Hegemony (, , ) is the political, economic, and military predominance of one State (polity), state over other states. In Ancient Greece (8th BC – AD 6th ), hegemony denoted the politico-military dominance of the ''hegemon'' city-state over oth ...
for France in Europe. To achieve this goal, it was first necessary to condition the tool of the slave". Sala-Molin's theories have been critiqued by historians for lacking historical rigor and for relying on a selective reading of the Code. Nevertheless, the precise content of the 1685 edict remains uncertain, because, on one hand, the original has been lost and on the other, there are often important variations between the surviving versions. Thus, it is necessary to compare them and understand which version was applicable to which colony or to each case, in order to accurately measure the impact of the Code Noir.
Denis Diderot Denis Diderot (; ; 5 October 171331 July 1784) was a French philosopher, art critic, and writer, best known for serving as co-founder, chief editor, and contributor to the '' Encyclopédie'' along with Jean le Rond d'Alembert. He was a promi ...
, in a passage of ''
Histoire des deux Indes The , more often known simply as , is an encyclopaedia on commerce between Europe and the Far East, Africa, and the Americas. It was published anonymously in Amsterdam in 1770 and attributed to Abbot Guillaume Thomas Raynal. It achieved consi ...
'', denounces slavery and imagines a large slave revolt orchestrated by a charismatic leader that leads to a complete reversal of the established order.
"Everywhere will the name of the hero who has restored the rights of the human species be blessed, everywhere will monuments be erected in his honor. And so the black code will disappear, but how terrible the white code shall be, should the victor consult only the law of reprisal!”
Bernardin de Saint Pierre, who stayed in Ile de France from 1768 to 1770, highlighted the lag that existed between the creation of legislation and its institution. Enlightenment historian Jean Ehrard notes a typically colbertist method of regulating a phenomenon in the Code. Slavery had been widespread in the colonies long before royal powers provided a legal framework for it. Ehrard noted that during the same era, one can find similar or equivalent dispositions to those in the Code Noir for other categories like for sailors, soldiers, and
vagrants Vagrancy is the condition of homelessness without regular employment or income. Vagrants (also known as bums, vagabonds, rogues, tramps or drifters) usually live in poverty and support themselves by begging, scavenging, petty theft, tempora ...
. Colonists were opposed to the Code because they were now compelled to provide slaves with a means of subsistence, which they normally were not required to guarantee.


Controversies about its legacy

Upon the 2015 release of his work ''Le Code noir. Idées reçues sur un texte symbolique'', colonial law historian Jean-François Niort was attacked for his position that the authors of the Code intended for "a mediation between master and slave" by minor Guadeloupean political organizations self-styled as "patriotic" and accused of "racial discrimination" and denialism by some members of the Guadeloupean independantist movement who threatened to expel him from Guadeloupe. He has been roundly supported by the historical community which has denounced the verbal and physical intimidation of specialists in the colonial history of the region. The controversy continued in an argument in the opinions section of the French newspaper
Le Monde ''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
between Niort and the philosopher Louis Sala-Molins.


In popular culture

The Code Noir is mentioned in '' Assassin's Creed IV: Freedom Cry'', as it is mainly set in
Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...
. The assassin Adéwalé, formerly an escaped slave turned pirate, aids local
Maroons Maroons are descendants of Africans in the Americas who escaped from slavery and formed their own settlements. They often mixed with indigenous peoples, eventually evolving into separate creole cultures such as the Garifuna and the Mascogos. ...
in freeing the enslaved population of
Saint-Domingue Saint-Domingue () was a French colony in the western portion of the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, in the area of modern-day Haiti, from 1659 to 1804. The name derives from the Spanish main city in the island, Santo Domingo, which came to ref ...
(now the
Republic of Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and so ...
). It is mentioned during the main story of ''Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'' and has its own database entry in the game which provides background on the Code Noir.


Further reading

*


See also

*
History of slavery in Louisiana Following Robert Cavelier de La Salle establishing the French claim to the territory and the introduction of the name ''Louisiana'', the first settlements in the southernmost portion of Louisiana (New France) were developed at present-day Biloxi ( ...
* Slavery in the French West Indies *
Slavery in Canada Slavery in Canada includes both that practised by First Nations from earliest times and that under European colonization. Britain banned the institution of slavery in present-day Canada (and British colonies) in 1833, though the practice of sl ...
*
Slavery in Haiti Slavery in Haiti began after the arrival of Christopher Columbus on the island in 1492 with the European colonists that followed from Portugal, Spain and France. The practice was devastating to the native population. Following the indigenous T ...
*
Slave codes The slave codes were laws relating to slavery and enslaved people, specifically regarding the Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery in the Americas. Most slave codes were concerned with the rights and duties of free people in regards to ensla ...
*
Slave rebellions A slave rebellion is an armed uprising by enslaved people, as a way of fighting for their freedom. Rebellions of enslaved people have occurred in nearly all societies that practice slavery or have practiced slavery in the past. A desire for freedo ...
*
Black Codes The Black Codes, sometimes called the Black Laws, were laws which governed the conduct of African Americans (free and freed blacks). In 1832, James Kent wrote that "in most of the United States, there is a distinction in respect to political p ...
*
Slave Trade Acts Slave Trade Act is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom and the United States that relates to the slave trade. The "See also" section lists other Slave Acts, laws, and international conventions which developed the c ...
* '' Panis''


References


External links

* * Édit du Roi, Touchant la Police des Isles de l'Amérique Française (Paris, 1687), 28–58

* ''Le Code noir'' (1685


The "Code Noir" (1685)
(in English), trans. John Garrigus * Tyler Stovall, "Race and the Making of the Nation: Blacks in Modern France." In Michael A. Gomez, ed. ''Diasporic Africa: A Reader''. New York: New York University Press. 2006. * {{Authority control Legal history of the Ancien Régime Colonial history of the Ancien Régime French colonization of the Americas Antisemitism in France Jewish French history History of Haiti Political history of Quebec Law of France Slavery in France Slavery in North America 1685 in law 1685 in France Anti-black racism Catholic Church in France Louis XIV Slavery law