The French National Assembly has voted unanimously to abrogate the Code Noir, the legal framework that governed slavery in former French colonies [1].
The move removes a 17th-century legal text from the French code, serving as a symbolic gesture of memory and recognition regarding the nation's history of enslavement [4, 5].
Lawmakers in Paris reached the decision this week. While reports on the exact timing vary, some sources said the vote occurred on May 27 [1], while others identify the date as May 28, 2026 [2, 3]. Regardless of the specific day, every deputy present voted in favor of the repeal [1].
The Code Noir originally established the rules for the exploitation of enslaved people and the administration of colonies. Although slavery had been abolished long ago, the text remained a lingering part of the legal record, a remnant of a system that institutionalized human exploitation [2, 4].
Rep. Steevy Gustave (EELV) spoke on the significance of the vote during a broadcast. "I am proud that my nation, even if it is late, has finally abrogated this infamous text," Gustave said [6].
The legislation is described as a work of global recognition. By striking the text from the law, the assembly aims to pay homage to those who were enslaved, including children, and to formally distance the modern French state from the legal foundations of the slave trade [3, 5].
“The French National Assembly has voted unanimously to abrogate the Code Noir.”
While the Code Noir no longer held practical legal authority in modern French courts, its continued existence in the legal archives represented a systemic failure to fully purge the machinery of colonial slavery. This unanimous repeal is a formal legislative admission of the state's past atrocities and is intended to provide a symbolic closure for the descendants of enslaved people in France and its former colonies.
