39 - Human dignity in German law

Summary

Human dignity is a concept that affects much more than the field of law, not only in Germany, but also in other countries. In Germany, it found its first written embodiment in the legal system in Article 1, paragraph 1, of the German Federal Constitution (Grundgesetz) of May 1949, which corresponded to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of December 1948. From that point began the triumphant development of human dignity, finding also expression in Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. Today, human dignity constitutes a central point of reference in practically every moral and legal discourse around the world.

In this chapter, I will examine, first, the exceptional position of human dignity in the constitutional order of the Federal Republic of Germany. The subsequent sections analyze the difficulties in interpreting this fundamental notion of law. The next section demonstrates how human dignity influences in different ways the current (statutory) law (private law, criminal law, public law). This will demonstrate that the absoluteness and imponderable nature of human dignity can only be preserved if its application is limited to a small but absolutely undisputed and generally accepted number of factual situations. The assumed triumphant development of human dignity, however, produces the result that this exceptional principle becomes trivialized and thus ultimately loses significance.