Genealogy of the Human Dignity Concept in Constitutional Law

Article title

Authors

OLEKSANDR VODIANNIKOV

Name of magazine

Legal journal «Law of Ukraine» (Ukrainian version)

Issue

9/2018

Сторінки

[41-56]

DOI

10.33498/louu-2018-09-041

Annotation

In the modern constitutional doctrine and practice of constitutional jurisdiction bodies, special emphasis is placed on the concept of human dignity as the foundation of the value order. However, being now perceived as an axiom, it is a product of the post-war era. When and under what circumstances has the concept of dignity acquired a modern meaning in constitutional law? What are the factors, considerations and justifications that have given rise to this term in the constitutional texts? How has human dignity become so important? The purpose of the article is to study the emergence and establishment of the constitutional concept of human dignity, to define its origins and causes which over a short time contributed to the recognition of the special constitutional significance of human dignity in post-war constitutionalism. The constitutional concept of human dignity and, actually, the very idea of dignitary constitutionalism emerged in the 1930s in the Catholic political thought. The paradoxical thing is that its emergence ensued from non-perception and denial of the liberal heritage of the great revolutions of the XVIII century in the interwar period, as well as of the extremism of Communist and Nazi regimes. Despite a long history of the human dignity idea in the European religious thought, its origination in the constitutional text is owed to the encyclic by Pope Pius XI Divini Redemptoris, which formulates the idea of social justice no longer underlain by a collective or a community, but by an individual. This refocusing of dignity in the Catholic political doctrine from the collective qualification (dignity of a family, workers) to the individual one (dignity of a person, human dignity) was the crucial tool that paved the way of the human dignity concept up to the constitutional doctrine and practice, particularly, by contributing to the emergence of this term in the Preamble to the Constitution of Ireland in 1937. The authority of the Holy See explains why the idea of freedom and human dignity was also proclaimed the highest values and sacred good in the constitutional texts of authoritarian Vichy France and Franco Spain, as well as in the constitutions of Latin America. The emergence of a new significance of human dignity in the post-war constitutions of continental Europe also indicates a rethinking of the very idea of representative democracy and also an attempt of introducing reliable safeguards against the majoritarian doom of democracy.

Keywords

human dignity; dignitary constitutionalism; political Catholicism; constitutional rights and freedoms

References

List of legal documents

Legislation

1. Constitución Política de la República del Ecuador. 26 de marzo de 1929 <https://www.cancilleria.gob.ec/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/constitucion_1928.pdf> accessed 29 August 2018 (in Spanish).

2. Constitution of Ireland. Enacted by the People 1st July, 1937, in operation as from 29th December, 1937 <http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/cons/en/html> accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

3. Déclaration des Droits de l’Homme et du Citoyen de 1789 <https://www.conseilconstitutionnel.fr/le-bloc-de-constitutionnalite/declaration-des-droits-de-l-homme-etdu-citoyen-de-1789> accessed 29 August 2018 (in French).

4. Die Verfassung des Deutschen Reiches (“Weimarer Reichsverfassung”) 11. August 1919 <http://www.verfassungen.ch/de/de19-33/verf19-i.htm> accessed 29 August 2018 (in German).

5. Fuero de los Españoles (18 julio 1945) 199 Boletín Oficial del Estado 358 (in Spanish). www.pravoua.com.ua

6. Laki Suomen Hallitusmuodon muuttamisesta. Helsingissä 17 päivänä heinäkuuta 1995 <https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/1995/19950969> accessed 29 August 2018 (in Finnish).

7. Suomen Hallitusmuoto. Helsingissä 17 päivänä heinäkuuta 1919 <https://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/1919/19190094001> accessed 29 August 2018 (in Finnish).

8. Projet de constitution du 30 janvier 1944 (Projet du maréchal Pétain) <http://mjp.univperp.fr/france/co1944p.htm > accessed 29 August 2018 (in French).

Cases

9. R. v. Morgentaler (per Wilson J. concurring) [1988] 1 Supreme Court Reports 30 (in English).

Bibliography

Authored books

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11. de Secondat C-L, Baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu, Esprit des lois (Librairie de Firmin Didot frères 1849) (in French).

12. Hughes E J, The Church and the Liberal Society (Princeton University Press 1944) (in English).

13. KatebG, Human Dignity (Harvard University Press 2011) (in English).

14. Kommers D, The Constitutional Jurisprudence of the Federal Republic of Germany (2nd edn, Duke University Press 1997) (in English).

15. Moyn S, Christian Human Rights (University of Pennsylvania Press 2015) (in English).

16. Rosen M, Dignity: Its History and Meaning (Harvard University Press 2012) (in English).

17. Aharon van Caenegem R, Judges, Legislators and Professors. Chapters in European Legal History (Cambridge University Press 1992) (in English).

Edited and translated books

18. Barak A, Human Dignity. The Constitutional Value and the Constitutional Right (transl by Daniel Kayros, Cambridge University Press 2015) (in English).

19. Darwall S, ‘Equal Dignity and Rights’ in Remy Debes (ed), Dignity: A History (Oxford University Press 2017) (in English).

20. Debes R, ‘Human Dignity Before Kant: Denis Diderot’s Passionate Person’ in Remy Debes (ed), Dignity: A History (Oxford University Press 2017) (in English).

21. Griffin M, ‘Dignity in Roman and Stoic Thought’ in Remy Debes (ed), Dignity: A History (Oxford University Press 2017) (in English).

22. Lewis M, ‘A Brief History of Human Dignity: Idea and Application’ in Jeff Malpas and Norelle Lickiss (eds), Perspectives on Human Dignity: A Conversation (Springer 2007) (in English).

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24. Sensen O, ‘Dignity: Kant’s Revolutionary Conception’ in Debes R (ed), Dignity: A History (Oxford University Press 2017) (in English).

Journal articles

25. Alexander G, ‘Property as a Fundamental Constitutional Right? The German Example’ (2003) 88 Cornell Law Review 733-778 (in English).

26. Beitz Ch, ‘Human Dignity in the Theory of Human Rights: Nothing But a Phrase?’ [2013] 41(3) Philosophy and Public Affairs 259-290 (in English).

27. Borowski M, ‘The Beginnings of Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court’ [2003] 16(2) Ratio Juris 155-186 (in English).

28. Englard I, ‘Human Dignity: From Antiquity to Modern Israel’s Constitutional Framework’ (2000) 21 Cardozo Law Review 1903-1928 (in English).

29. Fabre-Magnan M, ‘La dignité en Droit: un axiome’ [2007] 58(1) Revue interdisciplinaire d’études juridiques 1-30 (in English).

30. Łuków P, ‘A Difficult Legacy: Human Dignity as the Founding Value of Human Rights’ [2018] 19(3) Human Rights Review 313-329 (in English).

31. McCrudden C, ‘Human Dignity and Judicial Interpretation of Human Rights’ [2008] 19(4) The European Journal of International Law 655-724 (in English).

32. Moyn S, ‘The Secret History of Constitutional Dignity’ [2014] 17(1) Yale Human Rights and Development Journal 39-73 (in English).

33. R. Idelson V, ‘The Law of Nations and the Individual’ (1944) 30 Transactions of the Grotius Society 50-82 (in English).

34. Stone Sweet A, ‘Constitutional Courts and Parliamentary Democracy’ [2002] 25(2) West European Politics 77-100 (in English).

Thesis dissertation

35. Hryshchuk O. ‘Liudska hidnist u pravi: filosofskyi aspect’ [‘Human Dignity in Law: Philosophical Aspect’] (avtoref dys d-ra juryd nauk, 2008) (in Ukrainian).

Websites

36. Casti Connubi, ‘Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Christian Marriage to the Venerable Brethren, Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and Other Local Ordinaries Enjoying Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See. 31 December 1930’ <https://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_ enc_19301231_casti-connubii.html> accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

37. Divini Redemptoris, ‘Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Atheistic Communism to the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and Other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See. 19 March 1937’ <https://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19370319_divini-redemptoris.html>accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

38. Mit Brennender Sorge, ‘Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on the Church and the German Reich to the Venerable Brethren the Archbishops and Bishops of Germany and Other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See. 14 March 1937’ <http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_14031937_mit-brennender-sorge.html> accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

39. Quadragesimo Anno, ‘Encyclical of Pope Pius XI on Reconstruction of the Social Order to our Venerable Brethren, the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops, and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See, and likewise to all the Faithful of the Catholic World. 15 May 1931’ <http://w2.vatican.va/content/pius-xi/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xi_enc_19310515_quadragesimo-anno.html> accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

40. Pope Pius XII, ‘1944 Christmas Message addressed to the People of the Entire World on the Subject of Democracy and a Lasting Peace’ <http://www.ewtn.com/library/papaldoc/p12xmas.htm> accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

41. Pope Pius XII, ‘The Internal Order of States and People. Christmas Message of 1942’ <https://www.ewtn.com/library/PAPALDOC/P12CH42.HTM> accessed 29 August 2018 (in English).

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