Also known as: dignities · human dignity
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
2 senses
A reasonable sense of personal worth or self-respect. Offensive bodily contact occurs when it would affront that sense even without physical injury.
The inherent worth and autonomy of the individual. Certain fundamental liberties receive protection because they are central to personal dignity and self-definition.
Each sense below has its own examples, sources, and questions.
A reasonable sense of personal worth or self-respect. Offensive bodily contact occurs when it would affront that sense even without physical injury.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Deanna Davenport attended a brokerage holiday party. Derek Douglas deliberately flung a glass of champagne into her face and onto her blouse. The liquid struck her skin and clothing, causing brief stinging and humiliation. The contact offended a reasonable sense of personal dignity in a workplace setting.
Battery requires only a harmful or offensive contact. Offensive contact exists when it would offend a reasonable sense of personal dignity even if it causes no physical injury or pain.
Supporting sources
The inherent worth and autonomy of the individual. Certain fundamental liberties receive protection because they are central to personal dignity and self-definition.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Diego Duarte drove a truck displaying signs condemning a foreign government's policies. Local rules barred only those critical signs from a pickup zone outside the consulate while allowing other commercial messages. The selective ban could not be justified by protecting the dignity of foreign diplomats.
Denise Donovan and her spouse married in another state. State officials refused to recognize the marriage for purposes of family benefits and identification. The refusal burdened personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy.
Damian Decker's home was searched without officers first knocking and announcing. Police seized evidence during the entry. The violation implicated interests in privacy and dignity, yet exclusion of the evidence was unavailable as a remedy.
Daniel Diaz published a newspaper ad listing routine legal services and fees. State rules banned all lawyer advertising to preserve professional dignity. The blanket prohibition could not rest on paternalistic concerns about dignity.
Derek Douglas was held incommunicado and questioned without safeguards. The environment was designed to subjugate him to the examiner's will. The atmosphere carried a badge of intimidation destructive of human dignity.
No. A law banning only signs critical of foreign governments near embassies is an impermissible content-based restriction. Protecting the dignity of foreign diplomats does not satisfy strict scrutiny.
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The fundamental liberties protected by due process and equal protection include personal choices central to individual dignity and autonomy. These choices encompass defining family relationships and personal identity, including the right of same-sex couples to marry.
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…of Southern Negro students are engaged in widespread non-violent demonstrations in positive affirmation of the right to live in human dignity as guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights." It went on to charge that "in their efforts to uphold these guarantees, they are being met by an unprecedented wave of…
…carries its own badge of intimidation. To be sure, this is not physical intimidation, but it is equally destructive of human dignity.[^maj-26] The current practice of incommunicado interrogation is at odds with one of our Nation's most cherished principles—that the individual may not be compelled to incriminate himself.…
…of the liberty they sought to protect. Along the way, it rejects the idea—captured in our Declaration of Independence—that human dignity is innate and suggests instead that it comes from the Government. This distortion of our Constitution not only ignores the text, it inverts the relationship between the individual and the…
…force of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. Pierce v. Society of Sisters , 268 U. S. 510. By Meyer v. Nebraska , the same dignity is given the right to study the German language in a private school. Meyer v. Nebraska , 262 U. S. 390. In other words, the State may not, consistently with the spirit of the First…
…or ignorance, traceable to the prolonged social and cultural isolation of the retarded, continue to stymie recognition of the
The interests protected by the knock-and-announce rule, including dignity, are too attenuated from the evidentiary use of seized items. The high costs of exclusion outweigh any marginal deterrent benefit when alternative remedies exist.
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No. Truthful advertising of routine legal services is protected commercial speech. States may not justify blanket suppression on paternalistic concerns about professionalism or dignity.
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Incommunicado interrogation creates an atmosphere that carries its own badge of intimidation. That atmosphere is destructive of human dignity and inconsistent with the principle that an individual may not be compelled to incriminate himself.
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