Judiciary in Ukraine (X–XVIII centuries): Philosophical and Historical Analysis

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of issues related to the emergence and development of the judiciary in the medieval Ukraine. The author pays particular attention to the philosophical and legal aspects of the administration of justice and the formation of the foundations of the activity of the judicial authorities during the Kievan Rus, their influence on the proceedings of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Cossack state. According to the results of the research, the author makes the following conclusions. The judiciary in Ukraine has a long history of formation and development. Although it is commonly accepted in scientific circles that it was initiated in the times of Kievan Rus, in fact its roots reach much further in the millennia. In spite of the significant influence of the theological canons of Byzantium, in the philosophy of the ancient secular (both public and private) law, the ideology of the protection of universal human values, in their modern sense, was reflected largely. In Ukraine, during the Lithuanian-Polish era, the living standards of customary law, the traditions of military democracy, religion, and culture, which laid the foundation for political projects and programs of Ukrainian hetmans, remained viable. On this basis, the ideas of the republican system of the Cossack state, with a clear division of power, rights and freedoms of society, and their constitutional consolidation, were born for the medieval Europe. An integral part of the law in the Ukrainian lands during the Cossack state was «Cossack law» – a set of legal practices that acted in Zaporizhzhya Sich and acted as «official» sources of law, guided by which courts made decisions in cases in accordance with ancient customs, verbal law and common sense. Attempting to codify the norms of the Cossack public and private law and reform the Hetmanateʼs judicial system, at one time the authors of the collection «The rights that the Little Russian people are judging» and the last Hetman of Ukraine K. Razumovsky. The result of the deliberate consolidation of power in the imperial Russia was the final absorption of the annexed Ukrainian lands. Expansion demanded subjugation of state life to military and administrative-police interests, and thus did not tolerate, unlike Western Europe, nor traditions of legal education, nor corporations of privileged and influential judges.