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Repeal of the Code Noir: unanimous vote in the National Assembly
On Thursday, May 28, 2026, the French National Assembly took a symbolic and historic step: the 254 deputies present voted unanimously for the formal repeal of the Code Noir, the body of royal texts that codified slavery in the French colonies and had never been officially repealed since the abolition of slavery in 1848. Nearly 178 years of legal silence have come to an end.
What is the Code Noir?
The Code Noir refers to a set of royal edicts issued between 1685 and 1724 under the reign of Louis XIV and then under the Regency. These texts defined the legal status of enslaved people in the French colonies — the Antilles, Guyana, Réunion, but also Louisiana — by treating them as movable property, deprived of any legal personality.
This code meticulously organized the lives of people reduced to slavery: the right to buy them, sell them, punish them, and even kill them under certain conditions. It also regulated relations between masters and slaves, marriages, and the conditions for manumission.
Although slavery was definitively abolished in France by the decree of April 27, 1848, championed by Victor Schœlcher, the texts of the Code Noir themselves had never been formally repealed. Technically, they remained in the French legislative corpus, an anomaly that many considered intolerable.
A historic and unanimous vote
The bill was presented during a day reserved for the Liot group (Liberté, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires) by the Guadeloupe deputy Max Mathiasin. In an emotional speech, he called for "a powerful act of remembrance, justice and recognition".
All political groups supported the text. The 254 deputies present voted in favor, without a single vote against or abstention. This unanimous result, extremely rare in the National Assembly, triggered a wave of emotion in the chamber. Max Mathiasin, with tears in his eyes, was embraced by his overseas colleagues in a moment many described as solemn.
Twenty-five years after the Taubira law of 2001, which recognized the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, this vote represents a new memorial milestone for the French Republic.
What the adopted text says
The bill goes beyond the simple repeal of the Code Noir. It repeals all the texts that institutionalized slavery in the French colonies. It also introduces a symbolically powerful amendment: France now recognizes that "all texts that institutionalized the reduction of human beings to the status of movable property, organized their deportation, their exploitation and the violence committed against them, are inseparable from the crime against humanity".
This passage is crucial: it legally and morally links the repealed texts to the notion of crime against humanity, thereby anchoring in French law an unequivocal condemnation of the colonial slave system.
What concrete impact?
Let us be clear: the Code Noir had not been applied for centuries. Its repeal therefore has no immediate legal effect on the lives of French citizens. But its symbolic significance is considerable.
For communities in the Antilles, Guyana, RĂ©union and other former slaveholding territories, this vote represents official recognition of the state of injustice in which their ancestors were kept. It is also a signal to the descendants of enslaved people that the Republic is not turning a blind eye to its colonial past.
Some voices, however, point out that memorial recognition cannot be enough. Associations and elected officials from overseas territories are calling for concrete measures of reparation and better consideration of the persistent socio-economic inequalities in the overseas territories.
Next step: passage through the Senate
The text adopted by the National Assembly must now be examined by the Senate. No date has yet been set for this stage. Given the unanimous vote in the Assembly and the apparent political consensus, observers expect the Senate to endorse the text, even though the timetable remains uncertain.
If the law is promulgated, France will join the countries that have formally repealed their slaveholding texts — a step still too rare in the Western world.
A strong symbol for national memory
Beyond debates on reparations, this unanimous vote sends a clear message: France, across all political tendencies, recognizes the criminal nature of colonial slavery as it was organized and codified on its soil and in its colonies. The Code Noir, a monument of legal horror, now formally belongs to the past.
Max Mathiasin concluded his speech with these simple and powerful words: "It is one more step, a tribute to the men, women and children reduced to slavery."
The unanimity of the vote is itself a strong message: France no longer wants to let this text survive, even as a dusty legal relic.
Repeal of the Code Noir: unanimous vote in the National Assembly
On Thursday, May 28, 2026, the French National Assembly took a symbolic and historic step: the 254 deputies present voted unanimously for the formal repeal of the Code Noir, the body of royal texts that codified slavery in the French colonies and had never been officially repealed since the abolition of slavery in 1848. Nearly 178 years of legal silence have come to an end.
What is the Code Noir?
The Code Noir refers to a set of royal edicts issued between 1685 and 1724 under the reign of Louis XIV and then under the Regency. These texts defined the legal status of enslaved people in the French colonies — the Antilles, Guyana, Réunion, but also Louisiana — by treating them as movable property, deprived of any legal personality.
This code meticulously organized the lives of people reduced to slavery: the right to buy them, sell them, punish them, and even kill them under certain conditions. It also regulated relations between masters and slaves, marriages, and the conditions for manumission.
Although slavery was definitively abolished in France by the decree of April 27, 1848, championed by Victor Schœlcher, the texts of the Code Noir themselves had never been formally repealed. Technically, they remained in the French legislative corpus, an anomaly that many considered intolerable.
A historic and unanimous vote
The bill was presented during a day reserved for the Liot group (Liberté, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires) by the Guadeloupe deputy Max Mathiasin. In an emotional speech, he called for "a powerful act of remembrance, justice and recognition".
All political groups supported the text. The 254 deputies present voted in favor, without a single vote against or abstention. This unanimous result, extremely rare in the National Assembly, triggered a wave of emotion in the chamber. Max Mathiasin, with tears in his eyes, was embraced by his overseas colleagues in a moment many described as solemn.
Twenty-five years after the Taubira law of 2001, which recognized the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, this vote represents a new memorial milestone for the French Republic.
What the adopted text says
The bill goes beyond the simple repeal of the Code Noir. It repeals all the texts that institutionalized slavery in the French colonies. It also introduces a symbolically powerful amendment: France now recognizes that "all texts that institutionalized the reduction of human beings to the status of movable property, organized their deportation, their exploitation and the violence committed against them, are inseparable from the crime against humanity".
This passage is crucial: it legally and morally links the repealed texts to the notion of crime against humanity, thereby anchoring in French law an unequivocal condemnation of the colonial slave system.
What concrete impact?
Let us be clear: the Code Noir had not been applied for centuries. Its repeal therefore has no immediate legal effect on the lives of French citizens. But its symbolic significance is considerable.
For communities in the Antilles, Guyana, RĂ©union and other former slaveholding territories, this vote represents official recognition of the state of injustice in which their ancestors were kept. It is also a signal to the descendants of enslaved people that the Republic is not turning a blind eye to its colonial past.
Some voices, however, point out that memorial recognition cannot be enough. Associations and elected officials from overseas territories are calling for concrete measures of reparation and better consideration of the persistent socio-economic inequalities in the overseas territories.
Next step: passage through the Senate
The text adopted by the National Assembly must now be examined by the Senate. No date has yet been set for this stage. Given the unanimous vote in the Assembly and the apparent political consensus, observers expect the Senate to endorse the text, even though the timetable remains uncertain.
If the law is promulgated, France will join the countries that have formally repealed their slaveholding texts — a step still too rare in the Western world.
A strong symbol for national memory
Beyond debates on reparations, this unanimous vote sends a clear message: France, across all political tendencies, recognizes the criminal nature of colonial slavery as it was organized and codified on its soil and in its colonies. The Code Noir, a monument of legal horror, now formally belongs to the past.
Max Mathiasin concluded his speech with these simple and powerful words: "It is one more step, a tribute to the men, women and children reduced to slavery."
The unanimity of the vote is itself a strong message: France no longer wants to let this text survive, even as a dusty legal relic.
Repeal of the Code Noir: unanimous vote in the National Assembly
On Thursday, May 28, 2026, the French National Assembly took a symbolic and historic step: the 254 deputies present voted unanimously for the formal repeal of the Code Noir, the body of royal texts that codified slavery in the French colonies and had never been officially repealed since the abolition of slavery in 1848. Nearly 178 years of legal silence have come to an end.
What is the Code Noir?
The Code Noir refers to a set of royal edicts issued between 1685 and 1724 under the reign of Louis XIV and then under the Regency. These texts defined the legal status of enslaved people in the French colonies — the Antilles, Guyana, Réunion, but also Louisiana — by treating them as movable property, deprived of any legal personality.
This code meticulously organized the lives of people reduced to slavery: the right to buy them, sell them, punish them, and even kill them under certain conditions. It also regulated relations between masters and slaves, marriages, and the conditions for manumission.
Although slavery was definitively abolished in France by the decree of April 27, 1848, championed by Victor Schœlcher, the texts of the Code Noir themselves had never been formally repealed. Technically, they remained in the French legislative corpus, an anomaly that many considered intolerable.
A historic and unanimous vote
The bill was presented during a day reserved for the Liot group (Liberté, Indépendants, Outre-mer et Territoires) by the Guadeloupe deputy Max Mathiasin. In an emotional speech, he called for "a powerful act of remembrance, justice and recognition".
All political groups supported the text. The 254 deputies present voted in favor, without a single vote against or abstention. This unanimous result, extremely rare in the National Assembly, triggered a wave of emotion in the chamber. Max Mathiasin, with tears in his eyes, was embraced by his overseas colleagues in a moment many described as solemn.
Twenty-five years after the Taubira law of 2001, which recognized the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, this vote represents a new memorial milestone for the French Republic.
What the adopted text says
The bill goes beyond the simple repeal of the Code Noir. It repeals all the texts that institutionalized slavery in the French colonies. It also introduces a symbolically powerful amendment: France now recognizes that "all texts that institutionalized the reduction of human beings to the status of movable property, organized their deportation, their exploitation and the violence committed against them, are inseparable from the crime against humanity".
This passage is crucial: it legally and morally links the repealed texts to the notion of crime against humanity, thereby anchoring in French law an unequivocal condemnation of the colonial slave system.
What concrete impact?
Let us be clear: the Code Noir had not been applied for centuries. Its repeal therefore has no immediate legal effect on the lives of French citizens. But its symbolic significance is considerable.
For communities in the Antilles, Guyana, RĂ©union and other former slaveholding territories, this vote represents official recognition of the state of injustice in which their ancestors were kept. It is also a signal to the descendants of enslaved people that the Republic is not turning a blind eye to its colonial past.
Some voices, however, point out that memorial recognition cannot be enough. Associations and elected officials from overseas territories are calling for concrete measures of reparation and better consideration of the persistent socio-economic inequalities in the overseas territories.
Next step: passage through the Senate
The text adopted by the National Assembly must now be examined by the Senate. No date has yet been set for this stage. Given the unanimous vote in the Assembly and the apparent political consensus, observers expect the Senate to endorse the text, even though the timetable remains uncertain.
If the law is promulgated, France will join the countries that have formally repealed their slaveholding texts — a step still too rare in the Western world.
A strong symbol for national memory
Beyond debates on reparations, this unanimous vote sends a clear message: France, across all political tendencies, recognizes the criminal nature of colonial slavery as it was organized and codified on its soil and in its colonies. The Code Noir, a monument of legal horror, now formally belongs to the past.
Max Mathiasin concluded his speech with these simple and powerful words: "It is one more step, a tribute to the men, women and children reduced to slavery."
The unanimity of the vote is itself a strong message: France no longer wants to let this text survive, even as a dusty legal relic.
