About
Kai Möller is a Professor of Law at the LSE Law School. He has M.Jur., M.Phil. and D.Phil. degrees from Oxford University, a Ph.D. in law from Freiburg University, and is qualified for the German bar. He has held a visiting professorship at the University of São Paulo, and before joining LSE, he was a Junior Research Fellow and a Lecturer in Jurisprudence at Lincoln College, University of Oxford. His work in human and constitutional rights law and theory attempts to specify the moral, legal, constitutional, and institutional implications of a commitment to human dignity, freedom, and equality.
Research
Research Interests
I am currently working in two areas. My research in the theory of rights focuses on demonstrating the significance of attractive conceptions of dignity, freedom, and equality for contemporary, proportionality-based rights adjudication.
Furthermore, I am working on a book on the genital cutting of girls and boys, provisionally entitled Genital Cutting and the Dignity of the Child. The book will make the case for assessing genital cutting not only or primarily in terms of the harm that such practices inflict on children but also in terms of children’s human rights and human dignity, and it will correspondingly argue that the genital cutting of children is wrong as a matter of principle.
Publications
The Global Model of Constitutional Rights (Oxford University Press, 2012; paperback, 2015)
Since the end of the Second World War and the subsequent success of constitutional judicial review, one particular model of constitutional rights has had remarkable success, first in Europe and now globally. This global model of constitutional rights is characterized by an extremely broad approach to the scope of rights (sometimes referred to as 'rights inflation'), the acceptance of horizontal effect of rights, positive obligations and increasingly also socio-economic rights, and the use of the doctrines of balancing and proportionality to determine the permissible limitations of rights.
Drawing on analyses of a broad range of cases from the UK, the European Court of Human Rights, Germany, Canada, the US, and South Africa, this book provides the first substantive moral, reconstructive theory of the global model. It shows that it is based on a coherent conception of constitutional rights which connects to attractive accounts of judicial review, democracy and the separation of powers.
The first part of the book develops a theory of the scope of rights under the global model. It defends the idea of a general right to personal autonomy: a right to everything which, according to the agent's self-conception, is in his or her interest. The function of this right is to acknowledge that every act by a public authority which places a burden on a person's autonomy requires justification. The second part of the book proposes a theory of the structure of this justification which offers original and useful accounts of the important doctrines of balancing and proportionality.
click here for publisher's site
available via Oxford Scholarship Online
Review article:
Dimitrios Kyritsis, 'Whatever Works: Proportionality as a Constitutional Doctrine', Oxford Journal of Legal Studies (2014) 1-21
Reviews:
Pritam Baruah, 76 (6) (2013) Modern Law Review 1162-1169
John Adenitire, 14 (2014) Human Rights Law Review 159-171
Max Harris, 2015 (1) European Human Rights Law Review 110-114
Comments:
- Virgílio Afonso da Silva, 'How Global is Global Constitutionalism? Comments on Kai Moller's The Global Model of Constitutional Rights', Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies (2014) Vol. 10, 175-186
- Alon Harel, 'Do Legal Rights Matter? Comments on The Global Model of Constitutional Rights', Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies (2014) Vol. 10, 187-192
- Iddo Porat, 'The Global Model of Rights and Exclusionary Reasons: Comments on Kai Möller's The Global Model of Constitutional Rights', Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies (2014) Vol. 10, 193-205
Paternalismus und Persönlichkeitsrecht (Paternalism and the Right to Privacy) (Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 2005)
- ‘Liberty and Personal Responsibility in Dworkin's Theory of Rights’ LSE Legal Studies Working Paper 49/2025
- 'Driving Up Lexington Avenue (Again)' in Dimitrios Kyritsis (ed.) Essays on Freedom and Proportionality (Hart Publishing, 2025) 27-42.
- 'The Right to Justification and the Culture of Justification', forthcoming in The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Human Rights Law (Neha Jain and Mila Versteeg, eds); LSE Law School Working Paper Series 21 / 2023
- 'Lüth and the ‘Objective System of Values’: From ‘Limited Government’ Towards an Autonomy-Based Conception of Constitutional Rights' in Sujit Choudhry, Michaela Hailbronner, and Mattias Kumm (eds), Global Canons in an Age of Contestation: Debating Foundational Texts of Constitutional Democracy and Human Rights (Oxford, 2024); LSE Law School Working Paper Series 4/2022
- 'The Proportionality of Lockdowns', LSE Legal Studies Working Paper 13/2021, published in Aleida Mendes Borges, Sinéad Murphy, Yossi Nehushtan, and Peter Sutoris (eds.), Pandemic Response and the Cost of Lockdowns: Global Debates from Humanities and Social Sciences (Routledge, 2023)
- 'Beyond Reasonableness: The Dignitarian Structure of Human and Constitutional Rights' (2021) (34) Canadian Journal of Law & Jurisprudence, FirstView; LSE Law Working Paper Series 1/2021
- 'Male and Female Genital Cutting: Between the Best Interest of the Child and Genital Mutilation' 20 (2020) Oxford Journal of Legal Studies 508-532
- 'Justifying the Culture of Justification' LSE Law Working Paper Series 19/2018; (2019) International Journal of Constitutional Law 17 (4) 1078-1097
- 'Stability and Change under the Global Model of Constitutional Rights: A Reply to Vanessa MacDonnell' 12 (2018) Law & Ethics of Human Rights 103-110
- 'Dworkin's Theory of Rights in the Age of Proportionality' 12 (2018) Law & Ethics of Human Rights 281; LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series 11-2017
- 'Ritual Male Circumcision and Parental Authority' 8 (2017) Jurisprudence 461-479; LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series 14-2017
- 'U.S. Constitutional Law, Proportionality, and the Global Model' in Vicki Jackson and Mark Tushnet, Proportionality: New Frontiers, New Challenges (CUP 2017), 103-129; LSE Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series, 06-2016
- 'Authority and Intent in U.S. Constitutional Culture' Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies (2014) 10 (1): 123-136.
- 'The Global Model of Constitutional Rights: A Response to Afonso da Silva, Harel, and Porat' Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies 2014 10 (1): 206-223; first published in Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series WPS 28-2014 December 2014
- '"Balancing as reasoning' and the problems of legally unaided adjudication: A rejoinder to Francisco Urbina'International Journal of Constitutional Law (2014) 12 (1) pp.222-225; Russian translation in № 4 (101) 2014 Sravitelnoe Konstitutsionnoe Obozrenie (Comparative Constitutional Review) 114-117.
- 'Constructing the Proportionality Test: An Emerging Global Conversation' in Liora Lazarus, Christopher McCrudden, and Nigel Bowles (eds.), Reasoning Rights: Comparative Judicial Engagement (Hart 2014), 31-40
- 'From Constitutional to Human Rights: On the Moral Structure of International Human Rights' 3 (2014) Global Constitutionalism 373-403
- 'Proportionality and Rights Inflation' in Huscroft, Miller, and Webber (eds.), Proportionality and the Rule of Law: Rights, Justification, Reasoning (CUP 2014); also available in the Law Society and Economy Working Paper Series WPS 17-2013
- 'The Global Model of Constitutional Rights: Introduction'LSE Law, Society and Economy Working Paper Series (WPS 4/2013)
- 'Proportionality: Challenging the Critics' (2012) 10 (3) International Journal of Constitutional Law 709-731; Russian translation in № 4 (101) 2014 Sravitelnoe Konstitutsionnoe Obozrenie (Comparative Constitutional Review) 86-106
- 'The Right to Life Between Absolute and Proportional Protection' in Bronitt, Gani and Hufnagel (eds.), Shooting to Kill (Hart, 2012), 47-63; also available in the LSE Law, Society and Economy Working Paper Series, WPS 13-2010, February 2010
- 'Two Conceptions of Positive Liberty: Towards an Autonomy-Based Theory of Constitutional Rights'Oxford Journal of Legal Studies [2009] 29 (4) 757-786
- 'Balancing and the Structure of Constitutional Rights'International Journal of Constitutional Law 5 [2007] 453; also Spanish translation: 'Ponderación y estructura de los derechos constitucionales', in Gustavo A. Beade and Laura Clérico (eds.), Desafíos a la ponderación, Universidad Externado de Colombia (2011), 79
- 'On Treating Persons as Ends: The German Aviation Security Act, Human Dignity, and the Federal Constitutional Court'Public Law [2006] 457
- 'Abwägungsverbote im Verfassungsrecht' (Prohibitions of Balancing in Constitutional Law) 46 (2007) Der Staat 109-128
- 'Verfassungsgerichtlicher Grundrechtsschutz gegen Gemeinschaftsrecht' (Constitutional Protection against European Community Law) Jura [2006] 91
- 'Der Ehebegriff des Grundgesetzes und die gleichgeschlechtliche Ehe' (The Concept of 'Marriage' under the Basic Law, and Same-Sex Marriage) Die Öffentliche Verwaltung [2005] 64
- 'Selbstmordverhinderung im freiheitlichen Staat' (The Prevention of Suicide, and the Liberal State) Kritische Vierteljahresschrift [2005] 230
Teaching
Engagement and impact
Engagement and Impact
'Irgendwie scheint sich ein Teil von mir zurückgezogen zu haben', Welt.de27 April 2023 (online, paywall)
'Von Maske bis Klima: warum es nötig ist, gegen Sicherheit zu argumentieren', Welt.de15 March 2023 (online, paywall)
'Das juristische Dilemma der "positiven Diskriminierung"', Welt.de6 July 2023 (online, paywall)
‘Maskenpflicht? Das klingt harmlos, ist es aber nicht’ (‘Mandatory Mask Wearing? Sounds Harmless, But It’s Not’),Welt.de 5 August 2022 (online; paywall); full pdf here
‘Es gibt vier Gründe für staatliche Zwangsarbeit – keiner davon rechtfertigt die Dienstpflicht’(‘There are four reasons for compulsory labour – none of them justifies a compulsory social service‘, Welt.de 2 September 2022 (online; paywall); full pdf here
‘Der Punkt, der in der Abtreibungsdebatte übersehen wird’(‘The overlooked argument in the abortion debate‘), Welt.de28 June 2022 (online; paywall); full pdf here
'Ein Verlust für die Freiheit'('A loss for freedom'), Welt.de5 May 2022 (online; paywall); full pdf here.
'Sieben zwingende Argumente gegen eine Impfpflicht'('Seven compelling arguments against mandatory vaccination'), Welt.de 6 April 2022 (online; paywall); full pdf available here
'Die Impfpflicht ist eine Verletzung der Patientenautonomie'('Mandatory vaccination violates the principle of patient autonomy'), print version: Die Welt15 March 2022, pp. 14-15, online version (paywall); full pdf available here
‘Die Ausgrenzung der Ungeimpften muss enden’ (‘The exclusion of unvaccinated people must end’), print version: Die Welt 1 February 2022, pp. 14-15, online version (paywall); full pdf available here
'Die Kritik am Lockdown kommt im Mainstream an' (‘Lockdown scepticism arrives in the mainstream’), print version: Die Welt 10 January 2022, pp. 14-15, online version (paywall); full pdf available here
‘Die Impfpflicht: Eine Verletzung der Menschenwürde’ (‘Mandatory vaccination: a violation of human dignity‘), print version: Die Welt 13 December 2021, pp. 14-15, online version (paywall); full pdf available here
‘Corona Impfpflicht: Wo bleibt hier die Menschenwürde?‘ (‘Mandatory vaccination: what about human dignity?’), Deutschlandfunk Kultur (text and audio)
‘Niko Härting im Gespräch mit Kai Möller’(‘A conversation between Niko Härting and Kai Möller‘), Podcast Corona im Rechtsstaat(Corona and the rule of law), episode 81
'Circumcision: A child's protest' LSE Religion and Global Society Blog 18 July 2019
Religious and cultural practices can be so deeply entrenched and normalised as to seem unremarkable, even mundane, to those who live by them. In the case of circumcision, a little boy’s reluctance to partake in this particular tradition can be seen by his elders as cute and endearing, but ultimately silly and juvenile. Reflecting on a recent case, Kai Möller challenges this comfortable reading. He suggests instead that the child was agonising over an impending violation which the adults around him would not perceive.
'Die prozedurale Seite des Rechts auf Rechtfertigung: eine Erwiderung auf ALON HAREL' Verfassungsblog 14 June 2018
'Let's talk about circumcision'LSE EUROPP6 March 2018
A proposal to ban circumcision for non-medical reasons in Iceland has generated a heated debate over whether banning the practice would amount to an attack on religious freedom. Kai Möller outlines his own opposition to male circumcision, and argues in favour of an open debate over the issue in which both sides are respected and there is an attempt to reach common ground.
'Eine Frage der Würde' ('A matter of dignity'), Süddeutsche Zeitung 5 July 2017, p. 2.
The essay argues that the introduction of same sex marriage in Germany does not require an amendment to the Constitution. Article 6 of the Basic Law, which protects marriage, should be interpreted in line with the fundamental values of the Constitution, namely human dignity, freedom, and equality. This leads to the conclusion that same sex marriage is not only permissible but obligatory under the Basic Law.