Avbelj, Matej --- "Human dignity and EU legal pluralism" [2018] ELECD 389; in Davies, Gareth; Avbelj, Matej (eds), "Research Handbook on Legal Pluralism and EU Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018) 95

Book Title: Research Handbook on Legal Pluralism and EU Law

Editor(s): Davies, Gareth; Avbelj, Matej

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN: 9781786433084

Section: Chapter 7

Section Title: Human dignity and EU legal pluralism

Author(s): Avbelj, Matej

Number of pages: 16

Abstract/Description:

The chapter examines the role of human dignity in structuring the relationship between the European Union and its member states. This constitutional role of human dignity is first explored in the jurisprudence of the Court of Justice of the European Union, followed by analysis of the leading human dignity cases in the national constitutional jurisprudence. The second part of the chapter situates this jurisprudence in a theoretical context to examine which theories of EU legal pluralism best capture the described judicial practice. Noting the apparent descriptive shortcomings between the leading pluralist theories and empirical treatment of human dignity in national and EU law, the chapter concludes by advancing our own theory of principled legal pluralism. It is argued that it makes a better case for the practice of human dignity in European law than the other pluralist theoretical accounts.