Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

The Concept of Human Dignity as the Foundation of Rights in the Hungarian Biomedical Law

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
The Reality of Human Dignity in Law and Bioethics

Part of the book series: Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice ((IUSGENT,volume 71))

  • 470 Accesses

Abstract

Human dignity has a prominent role in the Hungarian Constitution. The concept of human dignity and its interpretations play an important role both in the field of bioethics and in the Hungarian law. On different levels of the Hungarian law human dignity serves as a basic pillar for the legal provisions. Reference to human dignity provides especially important arguments in the debates on euthanasia by emphasizing the right to self-determination of the terminally ill. In the debates both on the risks of emerging technologies and on the protection of vulnerable groups, such as children and psychiatric patients, human dignity plays an essential role in protecting people who are not yet or no longer fully able to exercise their right to self-determination.

Worldly dignity is tinsel and tokens, but human dignity is real: it is pure gold. Why do you play for counterfeit coins when God has filled your pockets with pure gold?

Sándor Márai, The Book of Herbs (Márai, S. [1943] (2012). Füves könyv. Budapest: Helikon).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 129.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 169.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Habermas, J. (2012). The concept of human dignity and the realistic utopia of human rights. In The Crisis of the European Union: A Response. Cambridge: Polity Press, 81–87.

  2. 2.

    Rosen, M. (2012). Dignity: Its History and Meaning. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1.

  3. 3.

    “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world […]”.

  4. 4.

    http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=31058&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html, accessed on 15 September 2018.

  5. 5.

    Sándor, J. (2008). Human Rights and Bioethics: Competitors or Allies? The Role of International Law in Shaping the Contours of a New Discipline. Medicine and Law, 27:15–28.

  6. 6.

    Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Dignity of the Human Being with regard to the Application of Biology and Medicine: Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine, Oviedo, 4.IV.1997.

  7. 7.

    Established by Section 34 of Act XXXI of 1989, effective from 23 October 1989.

  8. 8.

    In an early decision, already in 1990 the Constitutional Court declared that the death penalty was unconstitutional. The right to human life and dignity is an indivisible and absolute fundamental right that forms one unit and is the source and condition of several other fundamental rights. The right to human life and dignity constitutes a limit to the penal authority of the state.

  9. 9.

    Fundamental Law of Hungary (in Hungarian: Magyarország Alaptörvénye) adopted on 25 April 2011.

  10. 10.

    Decision 8/1990 (IV.23) of the Constitutional Court (in Hungarian: AB Határozat).

  11. 11.

    Decision 64/1991 (XII.17) of the Constitutional Court.

  12. 12.

    Törő, K. (1986). Az orvosi jogviszony. Budapest: Közgazdasági és Jogi Könyvkiadó.

  13. 13.

    Civil Code Section 2:43 [Specific personality rights]. The following, in particular, shall be construed as violation of personality rights: a) any violation of life, bodily integrity or health; b) any violation of personal liberty or privacy, including trespassing; c) discrimination; d) any breach of integrity, defamation; e) any violation of the right to protection of privacy and personal data; f) any violation to the right to a name; g) any breach of the right to facial likeness and recorded voice.

  14. 14.

    Promulgated on 13 July 2012.

  15. 15.

    Section 215—Any person who: a) restricts another person in their freedom of conscience by force or by threat of force; b) prevents another person from freely exercising their religion by force or by threat of force, is guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment not exceeding three years.

  16. 16.

    Section 216(1).

  17. 17.

    Section 1(1) of Act CLXXVIII of 2013 Effective from: 16 November 2013.

  18. 18.

    Section 1(1) of Act CLXXVIII of 2013 Effective from: 16 November 2013.

  19. 19.

    Parliamentary Act no. CLIV of 1997 on Health Care.

  20. 20.

    Section 10 (5).

  21. 21.

    Section 10 (6).

  22. 22.

    Section 10 (7).

  23. 23.

    Act LXXIX of 1992.

  24. 24.

    Established by: Section 4 of Act LXXXVII of 2000 Effective from: 1 July 2000.

  25. 25.

    Rose, N. (2007). The Politics of Life Itself. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 11.

  26. 26.

    Sándor, J. (2006). Az emberi méltóság tiszteletéről a bioetikában és az orvosbiológiai jogban (On Respecting Human Dignity in Bioethics and Biomedical Law). In A mi alkotmányunk (Our Constitution), ed. L. Trócsányi, 355–357. Budapest: Complex Kiadó.

  27. 27.

    Constitutional Court decision no. 36/2000. (X.27).

  28. 28.

    Constitutional Court decision no. 22/2003. (IV.28).

  29. 29.

    Constitutional Court decision no. 24/2014. (VII.22).

  30. 30.

    Health Care Act, Section 189(1).

  31. 31.

    Article 11 of the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights, adopted on 11 November 1997: http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13177&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html.

  32. 32.

    Annas, J. G., Andrews, L. B. and Isasi, R. M. (2002). Protecting the Endangered Human: Toward an International Treaty Prohibiting Cloning and Inheritable Alterations. American Journal of Law and Medicine, 28(2–3):151–178.

  33. 33.

    Health Care Act, Section 220(1).

  34. 34.

    In Hungarian memorial rights called “kegyeleti jogok”.

  35. 35.

    Civil Code, Section 2:50 [Kegyeleti jogok].

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Ethics and Law in Biomedicine (CELAB), Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

    Judit Sándor

Authors
  1. Judit Sándor
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Judit Sándor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Rennes, Rennes, France

    Brigitte Feuillet-Liger

  2. Columbia University, New York, USA

    Kristina Orfali

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Sándor, J. (2018). The Concept of Human Dignity as the Foundation of Rights in the Hungarian Biomedical Law. In: Feuillet-Liger, B., Orfali, K. (eds) The Reality of Human Dignity in Law and Bioethics. Ius Gentium: Comparative Perspectives on Law and Justice, vol 71. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99112-2_5

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99112-2_5

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-99111-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-99112-2

  • eBook Packages: Law and CriminologyLaw and Criminology (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation