Human dignity: the constitutional value and the constitutional right

Cover -- Half-title -- Title page -- Copyright information -- Table of contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- Table of cases -- Israel -- Australia -- Canada -- England -- European Court of Human Rights -- Germany -- India -- South Africa -- The United States -- Others -- Part I Fundamental concepts and sources -- 1 The various aspects of human dignity -- 1. Theology, philosophy and constitutional law -- A. The difference between the intellectual history and the constitutional interpretation -- B. The similarity between the intellectual history and the constitutional interpretation -- 2. Criticism of the use of the concept of human dignity and response to it -- A. The criticism -- B. The response -- 3. Human dignity - a social value, a constitutional value and a constitutional right -- 2 The intellectual history of the social value of human dignity -- 1. The ancient world -- A. History of ideas -- B. The Stoics and Cicero -- C. The world religions -- (1) Judaism -- (2) Christianity -- (3) Islam -- 2. Philosophical approaches -- A. Philosophical approaches until Kant -- (1) The Renaissance -- (2) The Enlightenment -- B. Kant -- C. Dworkin -- D. Waldron -- 3. The lessons learned from the intellectual history -- 3 Human dignity as a value and as a right in international documents -- 1. Human dignity in legal discourse -- 2. Human dignity in international conventions -- A. Human dignity discourse in international conventions -- B. United Nations conventions -- (1) The UN conventions on human rights of 1966 -- (2) United Nations conventions on particular issues -- (3) Conventions of the United Nations' specialized agencies -- C. Conventions on particular issues -- D. Regional conventions -- (1) Europe -- (2) America -- (3) Africa -- (4) The Arab League -- (5) The Organization of Islamic Cooperation.

Human dignity is now a central feature of many modern constitutions and international documents. As a constitutional value, human dignity involves a person's free will, autonomy, and ability to write a life story within the framework of society. As a constitutional right, it gives full expression to the value of human dignity, subject to the specific demands of constitutional architecture. This analytical study of human dignity as both a constitutional value and a constitutional right adopts a legal-interpretive perspective. It explores the sources of human dignity as a legal concept, its role in constitutional documents, its content, and its scope. The analysis is augmented by examples from comparative legal experience, including chapters devoted to the role of human dignity in American, Canadian, German, South African, and Israeli constitutional law