The majority of the enslaved Africans in New France performed domestic work and were brought to New France to demonstrate the prestige of their wealthy owners, who viewed owning a "slave" as a way of showing off their status and wealth. The majority of the enslaved Africans brought to New France were female domestic servants, and were usually raped by their masters (enslavers), who tended to literally see their enslaved women and girls as their sex slaves. As a result of usually working in the home rather than the fields or mines, enslaved Africans typically lived longer than Aboriginal enslaved people: an average 25.2 years instead of 17.7. As in France's colonies in the West Indies, slavery in New France was governed by the Code Noir ("Black Code") issued by King Louis XIV in 1685 which stated that only Catholics could own slaves; required that all slaves be converted to Roman Catholicism upon their purchase; recognized slave marriages as legal; and forbade masters from selling slave children under the age of 14. Black slaves could also serve as witnesses at religious ceremonies, file legal complaints against free persons and be tried by a jury.