[Dignity, founding principle of law].

The principle of dignity made a noted appearance in the legal field on the occasion of the adoption of the first texts concerning bioethics. There is in fact an obvious correlation between the need to provide a framework for certain practices and the principle of human dignity. This recognition, which can be seen in international and European law as much as in national law, is marked by certain ambiguities as to its meaning and its impact. So this principle should be subjected to a legal analysis. From this point of view, it presents three main characteristics, it is a matrix principle, which cannot be waived and it constitutes an objective right. Today, beyond its formal recognition, the effectiveness of the principle of dignity is weakened by a tendency to give prevalence to the requirement of freedom, as a subjective right. Beyond the ideological debate on this issue, it is the protection of the individual that is at stake.