Droit et Cultures (Dec 2023)
« L’âme du juste se sert du corps comme d’un outil ou d’un instrument ». L’intérêt des juristes pour le tatouage, entre médecine légale et pratique judiciaire (XIXe-XXe)
Abstract
The legal history of tattooing began modestly, in the early 19th century: forensic pathologists used the observation of all bodily marks to help the judiciary identify a corpse, and convict a culprit or repeat offender. During the Third Republic in France, advances in forensic identification using anthropometric measurements should have diminished the importance of tattoos to the background. But this was not to be. On the contrary, it became a subject of ideological confrontation: the Lyon School (Lacassagne, Locard) saw it as an indication of belonging to a “dangerous class”, which the government should severely punish in the name of social progress. This deterministic vision became a source of criticism by some legal practitioners, particularly judges. After this period of sometimes heated debate, tattooing spread throughout society, justifying health concerns, strict supervision of professionals and questions about the relationship between tattoo artists and their work. More fundamentally, at the start of the 21st century, tattooing has become part of a reflection on its medium, the human body, whose status is undergoing profound changes, foregrounded by the principle of unavailability and demands for “intactivism”.
