The Age of Dignity: Human Rights and Constitutionalism in Europe

ISBN-13: 9781849461030 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 256 str.

Catherine Dupr

Opis

For lawyers and political philosophers, human dignity is one of the most challenging concepts of the 21st century. Even though it is fast emerging as a core concept across legal systems and is the first foundational value of the European Union and its overarching human rights commitment under the Lisbon Treaty, human dignity is still little understood and often mistrusted. This book offers a critical investigation of human dignity's origins, its development, and, above all, its potential at the heart of European constitutionalism today. Highlighting the complex connections among human dignity, human rights, constitutional law, and democracy, the book argues that many of the concept's uses point to a deeper transformation of European constitutionalism and that, reclaimed as Europe's res publica, human dignity can contribute to developing constitutionalism in two directions. These focus on the construction of time - re-formulated as open futures rather than rejection of an unwanted past - and the reorientation of constitutionalism as a new form of humanism, evidenced by the emergence of the work sphere alongside the public and private spheres in human dignity law. The book contains a detailed analysis of comparative case law, including two supranational courts and domestic courts in Germany, the UK, France, and Hungary. It will be of interest to scholars of human rights, European law, and constitutional law. Subject: Human Rights Law, European Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Comparative Law]