In 1315, Louis X published a decree abolishing slavery and proclaiming that "France signifies freedom", with the effect that any slave setting foot on French soil should be freed.
[6] The Society of the Friends of the Blacks was founded in Paris in 1788, and remained active until 1793, during the midst of the French Revolution.
[7] A series of events took place from 1791 which led to the abolition of institutionalized slavery in France, including the establishment of the national convention and the election of the first Assembly of the First Republic (1792–1804), on 4 February 1794, under the leadership of Maximilien Robespierre, culminating in the passing of the Law of 4 February 1794, which abolished slavery in all French colonies.
The Abbé Grégoire and the Society of the Friends of the Blacks were part of the abolitionist movement, which had laid important groundwork in building anti-slavery sentiment in Metropolitan France.
Passed on 10 May 2001, the Taubira law officially acknowledges slavery and the Atlantic slave trade as a crime against humanity.
In 1890, the Brussels Conference Act (a collection of anti-slavery measures aimed at ending the slave trade on land and sea, especially in the Congo Basin, the Ottoman Empire, and the East African coast) was signed, followed in 1904 by the International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic.
For this reason, on July 25, 2013, France recognized modern-day slavery as a crime punishable by up to 30 years in jail.