human dignity
noun · Menschenwürde
Menschenwürde, and in German law it is absolute: Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG places it beyond balancing, the Ewigkeitsklausel of Art. 79 Abs. 3 GG puts it beyond amendment, and a measure that violates it cannot be justified by any competing interest.
Which translation, when
Why
Human dignity is Menschenwürde, and the trap is that German law treats it as absolute where English usage treats dignity as one interest among many. Article 1 Abs. 1 GG opens the Grundgesetz by declaring human dignity inviolable and a duty of all state power, and the Bundesverfassungsgericht makes it the centre of the constitutional order and the source of the other Grundrechte. Two consequences follow that surprise a common-law reader. First, Menschenwürde is abwägungsfest: it is not subject to the proportionality balancing that governs other rights, so a measure that violates dignity cannot be redeemed by any competing public interest, however weighty. Second, the Ewigkeitsklausel of Art. 79 Abs. 3 GG places it beyond amendment, so not even a two-thirds majority may change it. English law has no standalone constitutional guarantee of this kind; dignity appears through the European Convention on Human Rights, above all Art. 3, as an aspect of particular guarantees rather than a single supreme value standing above the rest. So rendering human dignity as Menschenwürde is correct, but importing the idea that it can be balanced against other interests misstates the one German right that cannot.
Typical mistakes
- German Menschenwürde is abwägungsfest: it is not subject to the proportionality balancing that applies to other Grundrechte, Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG, so presenting it as one interest to be weighed against competing aims misstates its status.
- It is placed beyond constitutional amendment by the Ewigkeitsklausel, Art. 79 Abs. 3 GG, so treating it as an ordinary right open to legislative change is wrong.
- Menschenwürde is the supreme constitutional value and the root of the other rights, not a soft appeal to fairness, so using it loosely for any harsh outcome dilutes it.
What matters
Assessing a German measure said to affect dignity, the point is that Menschenwürde cannot be balanced away by a competing interest, Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG, so a violation is decisive on its own. Treating it as one factor in a proportionality weighing, as English usage invites, misstates the single right German law holds absolute.
What the machine misses
Machine output renders human dignity as Menschenwürde correctly, then treats it as a balanceable interest in the English manner. It misses that Art. 1 Abs. 1 GG makes it absolute and abwägungsfest, outside the proportionality weighing that governs other rights, and that Art. 79 Abs. 3 GG puts it beyond amendment. The rendering hides that this is the one German right no competing interest can override.
Examples
| a violation of human dignity | eine Verletzung der Menschenwürde |
| human dignity is inviolable | die Menschenwürde ist unantastbar |
| respect for human dignity | die Achtung der Menschenwürde |
| human dignity cannot be balanced | die Menschenwürde ist nicht abwägbar |