VALENȚE CONSTITUȚIONALE ALE DEMNITĂȚII UMANE

Considered indisputably as a keystone in any constitutional architecture based on respect for
the fundamental rights and freedoms, the concept of human dignity presents certain difficulties as
regards the effective legal consequences of its enshrinement in the positive law. It can remain a
simple object of worship of a purely rhetorical adoration in the constitutional discourse or it can be
depreciated, by instrumentalization, in view of some simple or minor objectives. In addition, the role
that human dignity plays in the intellectual system of today’s secular civil religion should not be
underestimated. This article briefly highlights these issues, with illustrations from the practice of some
constitutional courts (the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany and the Constitutional Court of
Romania) and from the debates in the specialised literature.