The topos of human dignity: a contribution to the legal argumentation studies in the International Court of Justice and in the European Court of Human Rights

• Grant number: 14/01710-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate (Direct)
• Start date: October 01, 2014
• End date: September 30, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Law - Theory of Law
• Principal Investigator: Juliano Souza Albuquerque Maranhão
• Grantee: Fabiana Oliveira Pinho
• Supervisor: Andreas von Arnauld
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Direito (FD). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Kiel University, Germany
• Associated to the scholarship: 12/09530-0 - The tópos of the dignity of the human person: contribution to the legal argumentation studies in the International Court of Justice (ICJ), BP.DD

Abstract

The object of this project for research at the Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät der Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel and its Walther-Schücking-Institut für Internationales Recht is linked to the second thematic section of my main research project, which consists of a particular study of the argumentative handling of the topos of human dignity in the legal judgments of the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. During this research visit abroad, I intend, with the help of experts, to frame the preliminary issues pertaining to the activities planned for the second thematic section of my main research project. Such activities are related to the method used to analyze legal judgments and the line of reasoning that led to the construction of the concept of human dignity in the international sphere. To fulfill this purpose, the work plan and schedule comprise three phases, each to last six months.The first phase will be devoted to a thorough review and improvement of the rhetorical empirical method used to analyze legal judgments, as it corresponds to the embodiment of the theoretical proposal of legal topica undertaken by the School of Mainz ("Mainzer Schule"), especially by Katharina von Schlieffen. In the second phase, we will analyze the legal judgments of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) involving the argumentation process of human dignity by using the criteria established by the rhetorical empirical method. The third phase will involve an approach similar to the one adopted during the second stage, but this time applied to legal judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The fact that this court specializes in human rights violations first requires that a preliminary selection of paradigmatic cases in which human dignity behaves as an argumentative topos be carried out, so that careful study of these judgments may then be initiated based on the rhetorical empirical method, which was shaped during the first phase. (AU)