This is the first single-authored comprehensive account of how human dignity has found expression in international law over the past two centuries. It provides a theoretical, historical and juridical exegesis of how human dignity moved from the fringes to the centre of the international legal system.

"On 14 February 1878, a Belgian vessel, in route from Ostend to Dover, ran into a storm and, as it approached Dover Bay, collided with the British steam-tug Daring. The ship, fittingly called Parlement Belge, was owned by the King of the Belgians, and it carried, in addition to mail, also passengers, merchandise and the King's royal pennon"--