Body and Head: Equality, Punishment, and Justice in the decapitation of Louis XVI

Abstract

This essay examines three aspects of the beheading of king Louis XVI to show how it symbolized the transformation of the legitimacy principle of the body politic, and the development of modern formal and substantive justice. The beheading is seen as a metaphor of the transference of sovereignty from the king to the people. Louis Capet’s is analyzed focusing on the speeches of Saint Just and Condorcet, and their opposing conceptions of legality and legitimacy. These two threads are considered as fundamentals of two of the trends developed as part of the legacy of the French Revolution: the modern approach to human rights and totalitarianism.