Relation(s) of Sovereign(ty). 4.1 The Sovereign’s Position regarding Law If the sovereign has the power of interpretation and is indirectly creating laws, how is he positioned against law? The main characteristics of the sovereign were presented above. This rough sketch could be helpful toward the attempt to look upon the sovereign’s relation with other notions. Xxxxxxx(2009) claims that the beast and the sovereign have the same position within law. Both of them are outside of law. It is as though both of them were situated by definition at a distance from or above the laws, in non-respect for the absolute law, the absolute law that they make or that they are but that they do not have to respect (Xxxxxxx, 2009, p. 17). Animals are below the law because they are not taken into account by the law. On the other hand, the sovereign is the one who is above the law, the great creator, interpreter and sometimes the executor of the law. Regarding the position of the sovereign, Xxxxxxx claims that: “Although he stands outside the normally valid legal system, he nevertheless belongs to it, for it is he who must decide whether the constitution needs to be suspended in its entirety” (Xxxxxxx, 1985, p. 7). In the first instance it seems clear that Xxxxxxx’x position is different from Xxxxxxx’x. However, these claims will require further clarification. Firstly, Xxxxxxx creates the impression that his idea of the relation between the Beast and the Sovereign is not necessarily most clearly articulated in the phrase “La bête et le souverain”. He claims that maybe the way to look upon it is to think about the maxim “La bête e(s)t le souverain”. Xxxxxxx (2009) implies that these two figures are reflected in each other, not only presenting each other’s opposites, but also being integral parts of the other one. There is “a sort of hypnotic fascination or irresistible hallucination, which makes us see, project, perceive, as in a X-ray, the face of the beast under the features of the sovereign; or conversely, if you prefer, it is as though, through the maw of the untamable beast, a figure of the sovereign were to appear” (Xxxxxxx, 2009 p. 18). This relationship between the two subjects could also be seen within other spheres. Xxxxxxx’x vision resembles Xxxxxx’x Animal Farm where pigs took over the role of the humans, of the masters, until they became as humans85. In this story, the pigs are above all other animals, they are the sovereigns. They created and applied the law. They became the law. In this novel ...
