 To regularise slavery, in 1685 Louis XIV had enacted the "code noir", which accorded certain human rights to slaves and responsibilities to the master, who was obliged to feed, clothe and provide for the general well-being of his slaves.Free blacks owned one-third of the plantation property and one-quarter of the slaves in Saint Domingue (later Haiti).Slavery in the French First Republic was abolished on 4 February 1794.