No Argument: Human Dignity and the Making of Legislation

No Argument: Human Dignity and the Making of Legislation

The idea of human dignity is widely relied on in modern constitutional systems, yet in legal and political theory it is the focus of significant contention. Jeremy Waldron’s engagement, since 1999 when The Dignity of Legislation and Law and Disagreement were published, with the democratic and constitutional practice and with the theoretical argument constitutes a rich source of legal, political and social analysis of human dignity. Waldron’s own literature demonstrates that, as an “essentially contested concept”, we ask questions about human dignity as a way of pinning it down. When public authority is exercised to make legislation, the invaluable, aggregated and illuminating work of Waldron across this period demonstrates the concept of human dignity to be indispensable—empowering as well as constraining exercises of legislative authority.

Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions.