«Homo Dignus», the Legal Status of the Individual and Modern Constitutionalism (Russian, Comparative and International Context)

Abstract

The article analyzes homo dignus («a worthy person») as a theoretical, constitutional and legal concept; secular and theological approaches to understanding human dignity, differences between the Roman concept of «dignitas» and the theological concept of «image of God» («imago Dei»); the problem of constitutionallegal and wider legal regulation of human dignity in the domestic and international context is investigated. The author notes that the legal concept of an individual interacts with the legal concept of human dignity and the forms of their interaction are diverse. 1) The dignity of the individual is the legal basis for the structure and elements of the legal status of man and citizen; 2) a person possesses dignity in the case of his full legal capacity, and in the case of limited or lost legal capacity; 3) the dignity is possessed by a person who can have various relations with the state: a stateless person, a citizen, a bipatride or a polypatride, an alien in the territory of the state; 4) the idea of dignity and the idea of equality, combining in the field of law, stimulate the generation of a new paradigmatic thinking in the form of equal dignity. This article substantiates the concept of «constitutionalism of human dignity» from the standpoint of the Russian, comparative and international context. The article uses methods of discursive and comparative legal analysis, the method of constitutional design, specific historical and formal legal methods of analysis. It is concluded that a complex constitutional legal institution of the personhood dignity has been gradually forming in Russia. This institution is a constitutional and legal innovation in the structure of the foundations of the legal status of a person and citizen.