On 10 October 1789, Guillotin proposed to the National Assembly that executions be carried out by decapitation using a simple, painless mechanism.

Addressing the National Assembly on 10 October 1789, physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin proposed that capital punishment should always take the form of decapitation 'by means of a simple mechanism', defined as a machine that beheads painlessly. He argued the criminal 'shall be decapitated; this will be done solely by means of a simple mechanism.' The proposal aimed at a more humane and egalitarian method of execution than existing practices, consistent with the idea that punishment's purpose was to end life rather than inflict unnecessary pain.

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