Code Noir

The Code Noir (“Black Code”) was a French legal decree first issued in 1685 that regulated slavery in French colonial territories. It laid out the conditions of enslaved persons, including religious requirements, prohibitions on certain practices, and rules governing freed persons, though it was never fully enforced in colonies like Saint-Domingue.

Claims that use this term

• The Code Noir of 1685 required night burial for unbaptized slaves
• The Code Noir was never genuinely enforced in Saint-Domingue
• The Code Noir originally barred legal discrimination on the basis of ancestry