Human Rights: Universalism or the Integrity of a Common Enterprise?

Abstract

When courts in one country cite judicial opinions about fundamental rights issued in other countries, do they do this just because they consider the truth about fundamental rights to be universal? I argue that this is not a good reason. The quest for universal truth might be better served by diversity and national experimentation. The real reason is because the people of the world have taken up human rights as a common enterprise and it is important to secure what Ronald Dworkin called the "integrity" of that enterprise.

Keywords: Consensus, Diversity, Foreign Law, Fundamental Rights, Human Rights, Integrity, Treating Like Cases Alike, Universalism