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It receives a lot of unwarranted criticism for being the ‘racist’ episode against blacks. But actually it was made during the period when they were writing TNG episodes to closely resemble episodes from the original series, and “Code of Honor” appears to be based on “Amok Time,” which also features a primitive, combat-based courting ritual, only in the latter it's a Vulcan ritual. Since they did it with Vulcans, nobody thought they were being racist. “Code of Honor” is also consistent with sci-fi/ adventure tropes from pre-1970, like if you find any frayed paperback novels inside used book sales, or watch episodes of the original Johnnie Quest series, even Edgar Allen Poe wrote a science fiction novel featuring an exotic, nigger-like race—everyone took this as a harmless trope, but in 1989 Roddenberry wasn't realizing it was [current-year], and you couldn't do that without receiving some blowback.
Those calling it racist don't seem to acknowledge that the aliens' culture is highly refined. There is a peaceful transfer of government power at the end of the episode. I guess the most accurately cynical thing you could say about it is that the negress was manipulating the legal system to hypergamize and extract benefits, but then again, that element was carried over wholesale from Vulcan culture in “Amok Time.”
The best part is that the very next episode features a pure Aryan race on a peaceful planet with autistically law-abiding citizens, which is a fairly accurate depiction of Scandinavians' preference for large government.