Menschenwürde

The protection of human dignitiy is embedded in Art. 1 of the German constitution as a supreme constitutional principle. Even though Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG, often in conjunction with Art. 2 GG, has subject of numerous decisions by the Federal Constitutional Court, there is considerable uncertainty as to how the constitutional concept of human dignity is to be defined. Aim of this work is to contribute a definition of the term and to describe the structure of Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG in greater detail. Furthermore, the author argues that Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG has the character of a fundamental human right. This position is then explained in more detail using known problem situations.