In this paper we explore the way in which the scene of parricide in Totem and Taboo has influenced Derrida’s understanding of the origin and preservation of the Law. We refer first to his essay “Préjugés”, in which Derrida studies parricide as an event which takes place and doesn’t take place at the same time, making possible a founding of the Law upon a fiction and a simulacrum. Then, we turn towards the Seminar on the Death Penalty, where Derrida identifies the Father and the death row prisoner, and studies the way in which the repetition of execution (especially the sovereign’s execution) constitutes the Law.