Nearly two centuries after the abolition of slavery, the National Assembly will repeal the Black Code

The National Assembly's Law Committee unanimously approved on Wednesday, May 20, the bill to repeal the Code Noir, introduced by Guadeloupean MP Max Mathiasin of the Liot group. The bill will be placed on the plenary's agenda on Thursday, May 28. This cross-party vote paves the way for the formal abolition of a three-century-old legal framework.

The Code Noir encompassed all the provisions governing the lives of slaves in the French islands, notably reducing them to the status of "property." This collection of royal edicts, promulgated between 1685 and 1724, was never officially repealed despite the abolition of slavery by decree on April 27, 1848, thus allowing an aberration to persist in the Republic's legal system for nearly two centuries.

A promise from the Prime Minister transformed into legislation

The proposal bears the signatures of 130 members of parliament from all political groups, with the exception of the National Rally (RN) and the Union for the Republic (UDR), to whom it was not submitted. Its inclusion on the parliamentary agenda follows a commitment made during a session by François Bayrou himself. When questioned during a question period with the government, the Prime Minister promised that a bill enacting the repeal would be "presented to Parliament and passed unanimously."

The Taubira Law of May 21, 2001, which recognized the slave trade and slavery as crimes against humanity, was a fundamental step, but it left the Code Noir technically in force. For Max Mathiasin, this repeal represents "a further milestone for the memory of slavery," a memory that the Republic has taken three hundred and forty-one years to legally settle.