small flourish

French colonial justice and Black slaves.

81

BLACK CODE
OR
COMPENDIUM OF THE SAID,
DECLARATIONS, AND JUDGMENTS,
Regarding the Discipline & Trade of Black Slaves from the
French Islands of America.
--------------------------------
KING’S EDICT,
On the Discipline of Black Slaves
From the Islands of French America.
Presented at Versailles in the month of March 1685

[...]

92

XXXII. Slaves may be tried for criminal matters, without their Masters having to be party to it, unless in the event of complicity; & the said accused Slaves, will be tried in a first Instance by regular Judges, & on appeal at the Conseil Souverain as per the same instruction, and with the same formalities, as for free persons.
[...]

93

XXXVIII. The fugitive Slave who has been on the run for one month, from the day that his master denounced him before the Courts, will have his ears cut off, & will be branded with a fleur de Lys on one shoulder; & if he is again at large another month, once more from the day that he was denounced to the courts, he will have his hamstring severed, & will be branded with a fleur de lys on the other shoulder, & the third time he will be put to death.
[...]

94

XLII. Masters may also, if they deem their Slaves to have merited it, have them chained & flogged with rods, or ropes, but may not torture them, nor mutilate any of their limbs, at the risk of having the Slaves confiscated, & of having extraordinary charges brought against the Masters.
[...]

Source: Roi de France, "Justice and Slaves, according to the Collection of Regulations, Edicts, Declarations and Decrees: Regarding Commerce, the Administratoin of Justice, & the Policing of French Colonies in America and Indentured Servents, with the Black Code and Additions to the Said Code" (Paris: Chez les Libraires Associez (1685), 1745).

Return to parent page