Human Dignity as the Foundation for the Democratic Rule of Law

Abstract

Abstract The notion of human dignity has in recent years come under attack from sectors of the interdisciplinary and legal academic community as vacuous and of little or no utility in judicial reasoning. This author holds instead that human dignity is the sine qua non of all human life and correlated with certain inviolable human rights that speak to human beings as other than property, as having legal personality and the right to be heard. The notion of human dignity then serves, it is argued here, as essential guidance in judicial reasoning on issues of individual and group fundamental human rights. Neglect in honouring the principle of respect for human dignity in judicial decision-making serves to erode the democratic rule of law and the interests of justice as will be illustrated through examination in particular of the U.S. Supreme Court case of J.C. Hernandez et al v. J. Mesa Jr.