Regicide and Revolution: Speeches at the Trial of Louis XVI

Regicide and Revolution: Speeches at the Trial of Louis XVI by Walzer, Michael. paperback edition. ISBN: 9780231082594.

Maintaining that the trial and public execution of Louis XVI was an absolutely essential part of the French Revolution, Walzer discusses two types of regicide: the first, committed by would-be kings or their agents, left the monarchys mystique and divine right intact, while the second was a revolutionary act intended to destroy it completely. Walzer defends the trial and execution of Louis XVI as necessary, since it not only tried to destroy the monarchys mystique and divine right, but also required the deputies to fully explain their guiding philosophies and applied the rules of judicial process to establish equality before the law. New to this edition is an appendix containing "Revolutionary Justice," Ferenc Fehers classic rebuttal to Walzers thesis, and Walzers response, "The Kings Trial and the Political Culture of the Revolution."