The National Assembly voted 254-0 — a rare show of unanimity — to adopt a bill repealing the Code Noir, or Black Code, the 1685 decree King Louis XIV signed to govern slaves across France’s colonies.

France's legislature took a symbolic step by voting unanimously to retract the historic Code Noir, a draconian set of decrees once regulating slavery in its colonies. This move, however, opens dialogue on France's colonial history and systemic issues that continue to affect its overseas departments.

Whether the move helps the nation fight against racism and inequality in its overseas territories, “remains to be seen,” deputy director of the Foundation for the Memory of Slavery told AP.

PARIS — For nearly two centuries after France abolished slavery, the colonial-era law that classified humans as property has remained quietly on its books. On Thursday, the lower house of Parliament voted to wipe it from French law. The National ...

In May 2025, François Bayrou, then the prime minister of France, fielded an unusual question from a member of Parliament: Why hadn’t France formally revoked the Code Noir, the