Dehumanization by law

Luigi Corrias's contribution discusses dehumanization by legal means. While the law is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for dehumanization, Corrias's chapter shows that dehumanization by law can be an important step in a dehumanization process. The chapter introduces the concept of legal dehumanization and discusses the closely related anthropology of modern law. A legal act is dehumanizing if and only if it is an indefensible infringement of legal values, where this infringement constitutes a violation of an individual or a group of people in their status of a full juridical person, making it possible to treat the victim(s) as subhuman. It also studies a number of cases in which legal dehumanization occurred, more specifically the Nuremberg laws, the apartheid regime of South Africa, and the torture memos. Finally, Corrias will look into the question how legal dehumanization might be reversed.