Emmanuel Marie Michel Philippe Fréteau de Saint-Just

Nonetheless, his aristocratic background drew increasing ire from militant revolutionaries until he was finally arrested and executed at the guillotine in 1794 during the Reign of Terror.

As advisor to the Parlement of Paris, he supported the resistance of parlements to the attempted absolutist reforms, first against Chancellor Maupeou from 1770 to 1774 (along with such future éminences grise of the Revolution as Target and François Denis Tronchet), and again against Lomenie de Brienne, the last Finance Minister of the ancien régime, in 1787.

However, it was his fame that caused the liberal nobility of the region of Melun, hostile to the Court, to give him their votes in the spring 1789.

After the attack on the Tuileries by the mobs of Paris (10 August 1792), in disagreement with the new direction taken by the Revolution, and in protest of the impending abolition of the French monarchy, he departed to his estates of Vaux-le-Le Penil.

Acquitted a first time, thanks in part to the supportive testimonies from his fellow citizens, he was nevertheless dispatched to the guillotine on 26 Prairial II (14 June 1794).