The planters and their families, together with the "petite bourgeoisie" of merchants and shopkeepers, were outnumbered by slaves by a factor of more than ten on Saint-Domingue. The largest sugar plantations and concentrations of slaves were in the north of the islands, and whites lived in fear of slave rebellion. Even by the standards of the Caribbean, the French slave masters were extremely cruel in their treatment of slaves. They used the threat and acts of physical violence to maintain control and suppress efforts at slave rebellion. When slaves left the plantations or disobeyed their masters, they were subject to whipping, or to more extreme torture such as castration or burning, the punishment being both a personal lesson and a warning for other slaves. King Louis XIV of France passed the Code Noir in 1685 in an attempt to regulate such violence and the treatment of slaves in general in the colony, but masters openly and consistently broke the code. During the 18th century, local legislation reversed parts of it.