Code Noir

The Code Noir (French language: The Black Code) was a decree passed by France's King Louis XIV in 1685. The Code Noir defined the conditions of slavery in the French colonial empire, restricted the activities of free Negroes, forbade the exercise of any religion other than Roman Catholicism, and ordered all Jews out of France's colonies. The code has been described by Tyler Stovall as "one of the most extensive official documents on race, slavery, and freedom ever drawn up in Europe."

Context

Louis XIV wanted to increase his power in the colonies. The Code Noir was one of the many laws inspired by Colbert. At that time in the Caribbean, Jews were mostly active in the Dutch colonies, so their presence was seen as a Dutch influence. At that time the majority of the population of the French Caribbean were slaves, and slave revolts were frequent.

Summary

In 60 articles, the document specified that:

• Jews could not reside on the French colonies (art. 1)

• slaves must be baptized in the Roman Catholic Church (art. 2)

• forbade the exercise of any other religion, other than Catholicism (art. 3)

• slave masters must be Roman Catholic (art. 4)

• non-Catholic colonial subjects must not interfere with the Catholic practices of other subjects (art. 5)

• all colonial subjects and slaves must observe Catholic holidays regardless of their own faith, and no one must work on Sundays and on holidays (art. 6)

• slave markets must not be held on Catholic holidays (art. 7)

• only Catholic marriages would be recognized (art. 8)

• married free men will be fined for having children with their slave concubines, as will the slave concubine's master. If the man himself is the master of the slave concubine, the slave and child will be removed from his ownership. If the man was not married, he should then be married to the slave concubine thus freeing her and the child from slavery (art. 9)

• weddings between slaves must be carried out only with the masters' permission (art. 10). Slaves will not be married without their own consent (art. 11)

• children born between married slaves are also slaves, belonging to the female slave's master (art. 12)

• children between a male slave and a female free woman are free ; children between a female slave and a free man are slaves (art. 13)

• slaves shall not carry weapons except under permission of their masters for hunting purposes (art. 15)

• slaves belonging to different masters may not gather at any time under any circumstance (art. 16)

• slaves shall not sell sugar cane, even with permission of their masters (art. 18)

• slaves may 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 when they are sick or old (art. 22 - 27)

• (unclear) slaves can testify but only for information (art. 30-32)

• a slave who strikes his or her master, his wife, mistress or children will be executed (art. 33)

• fugitive slaves absent for a month shall have their ears cut off and be branded. For another month their hamstring will be cut and they will be branded again. A third time they will be executed (art. 38)

• masters of freed slaves who give refuge to fugitive slaves will be fined (art. 39)

• (unclear) a master who falsely accuses a slave of a crime and has the slave put to death will be fined (art. 40)

• masters may chain and beat slaves but may not torture nor mutilate them (art. 42)

• masters who kill their slaves will be punished (art. 43)

• slaves are community property and cannot be mortgaged, and must be equally split between the masters inheritors, but can be used as payment in case of debt or bankuptcy, and otherwise sold (art. 44 - 46, 48 - 54)

• slave husband and wife (and their prepubescent children) under the same master are not to be sold separately (art. 47)

• slave masters 20 years of age (25 years without parental permission) may free their slaves (art. 55)

• slaves who are declared to be sole legatees by their masters, or named as executors of their wills, or tutors of their children, shall be held and considered as freed slaves (art. 56)

• freed slaves are French subjects, even if born elsewhere (art. 57)

• freed slaves must show special respect to their former masters and their family members (art. 58)

• freed slaves have the same rights as French colonial subjects (art. 59)

• fees and fines paid with regards to the Code Noir must go to the royal administration, but one third will be assigned to the local hospital (art. 60)

See also

• Slave codes
• Black Codes in the USA

forbade the exercise of any other religion other than Catholicism

References

• Édit du Roi, Touchant la Police des Isles de l'Amérique Française (Paris, 1687), 28–58. [1]
• Le Code noir (1685) [2]
• The "Code Noir" (1685), translated by John Garrigus, Professor of History [3]
• 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.