Ukrainian constitutionalism has rich history which dates back to the beginning of the XVIII century and is associated with the Pylyp Orlyk Constitution of 1710. An outstanding document of the Ukrainian state-building of the XX century is the Constitution of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (hereinafter – UPR) adopted by the Ukrainian Central Rada (hereafter – UCR) on April 29, 1918. It signified the final stage of the UCR legislative activities during 1917 – early 1918. This article aims at analyzing the contents of the four UCR Universals and other UCR legal acts for the purpose of identifying their place and role in the UCR state-building activity as the documents of the constitutional nature. These acts defined the legal bases of sovereignty of the Ukrainian people and of the system of central public bodies, and also granted the UPR citizens a wide range of rights and freedoms, including the right of national minorities to national and personal autonomy. The author arrives at the conclusion that UCR legal acts of the pre- constitutional period contained the provisions which set up the foundations of local self-government in the UPR, the state’s social and economic structure and its foreign policies. In addition to the Universals as UCR complex acts, the following laws can be mentioned in the first place as the most significant acts of the constitutional nature: dated November 25, 1917 “On Maintenance of the Central Rada at Public Expense”, dated November 25, 1917 “On the Exclusive Right of the Central Rada to Issue Legislative Acts“, “On the Elections to the Constituent Assembly of the Ukrainian People’s Republic” (November 1917), dated December 2, 1917 “On the Establishment of the General Court”, dated January 9, 1918 “On the National and Personal Autonomy”, the Interim Land Law of January 31, 1918, dated March 2, 1918 “On Citizenship of the Ukrainian People’s Republic”, dated March 4, 1918 “On Registration of Citizenship of the Ukrainian People’s Republic”, dated March 6, 1918 “On the Administrative Territorial Division of Ukraine”. The author demonstrates that all of the transformations in the UPR were made with a view to building the independent Ukrainian state, and this idea was the keynote in most of the UCR legislative acts which preceded the UPR Constitution of 1918. As a conclusion, it is noted that the UPR Constitution, in terms of its concept and contents, largely repeated the preceding UPR legislation of the constitutional nature, the provisions of which provided for legitimation of the UPR as one of the forms of Ukrainian national statehood arising in the period of liberation of 1917–1921. It is stated that the draft UPR Constitution was prepared taking into account the constitutional development experience of foreign countries, in particular, the United States.

Bibliography 
 

Authored books 
1. Konstytutsii burzhuaznykh krain: konstytutsii velykykh derzhav i zakhidnykh susidiv SRSR [Constitutions of Bourgeois Countries. Constitutions of the Great Powers and Western Neighbors of the USSR] (Radianske budivnytstvo i pravo 1936) (in Ukrainian). 
2. Shemshuchenko Yurii, Uroky konstytutsiinoho budivnytstva v Ukrainskii Narodnii Respublitsi. Pravoznavcha spadshchyna Hlukhivshchyny [Constitution-Building Lessons in the Ukrainian People’s Republic. Jurisprudential Legacy of Hlukhivshchyna] (Iurydychna dumka 2008) (in Ukrainian). 

Edited books

 3. Gessen V i Nol’d B (per, pod red so vstup ocherkami), Sovremennye konstitutsii: sbornik deystvuyushchikh konstitutsionnykh aktov [Modern Constitutions: Collection of Applicable Constitutional Acts], t І: Konstitutsionnye monarkhii [Constitutional Monarchies] (Pravo 1905) (in Russian).

4. – –, Sovremennye konstitutsii: sbornik deystvuyushchikh konstitutsionnykh aktov [Modern Constitutions: Collection of Applicable Constitutional Acts], t ІІ: Federatsii i respubliki [Federation and Republic] (Pravo 1907) (in Russian).

5. Honcharenko V (uporiad), Istoriia konstytutsiinoho zakonodavstva Ukrainy: zbirnyk dokumentiv [History of Constitutional Legislation of Ukraine: a Collection of Documents] (Pravo 2007) (in Ukrainian).

6. Verstiuk V ta inshi (uporiadn), Smolii V ta inshi (red), Ukrainska Tsentralna Rada: dokumenty i materialy [The Ukrainian Central Rada: Documents and Materials], t 1: 4 bereznia – 9 hrudnia 1917 r. [March 4 – December 9, 1917] (Naukova dumka 1996) (in Ukrainian).

7. – –, Ukrainska Tsentralna Rada: dokumenty i materialy [The Ukrainian Central Rada: Documents and Materials], t 2: 10 hrudnia 1917 r. – 29 kvitnia 1918 r. [December 10, 1917 – April 29, 1918] (Naukova dumka 1997) (in Ukrainian).
 

Journal articles

8. Rumiantsev Viacheslav, ‘Konstytutsiia Ukrainskoi Narodnoi Respubliky 29 kvitnia 1918 roku’ [‘The Constitution of the Ukrainian People’s Republic of April 29, 1918’] (2011) 10 Visnyk Kharkivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni V N Karazina 57 (in Ukrainian).

9. Sereda A, ‘Rozvytok konstytutsiinoho zakonodavstva v Ukrainskii Narodnii Respublitsi’ [‘Development of Constitutional Legislation in the Ukrainian People’s Republic’] (2006) 1 Visnyk Zaporizkoho natsionalnoho universytetu Yurydychni nauky 15 (in Ukrainian).

10. Sevriukov V, ‘Shchodo periodyzatsii stanovlennia ta rozvytku konstytutsiinykh harantii zabezpechennia prav natsionalnykh menshyn ta korinnykh narodiv Ukrainy’ [‘On the Periodization of the Establishment and Development of the Constitutional Guarantees for the Rights of National Minorities and Native Peoples of Ukraine’] (2008) 39 Derzhava i pravo Yurydychni i politychni nauky 269 (in Ukrainian).

11. Shuklina N, ‘Ukrainski konstytutsiini proekty yevropeiskoho zrazka XIX – pochatku XX st. pro kolo prav i svobod liudyny i hromadianyna: polityko-pravovyi analiz’ [‘Ukrainian Constitutional Projects under the European Model of the XIX – Early XX Century on the Scope of Human and Civil Rights and Freedoms: Political and Legal Analysis’] (2003) 200 Naukovyi visnyk Chernivetskoho universytetu Pravoznavstvo 24 (in Ukrainian).

12. Shumliak Olha, ‘Evoliutsiia instytutu reiestratsii vyboriv v aspekti stanovlennia i rozvytku vyborchoho prava v Ukraini (doradianskyi period)’ [‘Evolution of the Institution of Elections Registration in Terms of the Establishment and Development of Election Law in Ukraine (Pre-Soviet Period)’] (2007) 3 Visnyk Tsentralnoi vyborchoi komisii 85 (in Ukrainian).

13. Stetsiuk N, ‘Andrii Yakovliv (1872-1955)’ [‘Andrii Yakovliv (1872-1955)’] [2007] 1(11) Vybory i demokratiia 61 (in Ukrainian).

14. Yarosh D, ‘Konstytutsiia Ukrainskoi Narodnoi Respubliky pro prava i svobody liudyny: istorychnyi dosvid i suchasnist’ [‘The Constitution of the Ukrainian People’s Republic on Human Rights and Freedoms: Historical Experience and Present Days’] [2006] 1(17) Universytetski naukovi zapysky 7 (in Ukrainian).

Conference papers

15. Butkevych O, ‘Dzherela mizhnarodnoho prava v Konstytutsii Ukrainy: istoriia i suchasnist’ [‘Sources of International Law in the Constitution of Ukraine: History and Present Days’] v Aktualni problemy suchasnoho mizhnarodnoho prava: zbirnyk naukovykh statei za materialamy I Kharkivskykh mizhnarodno-pravovykh chytan, prysviachenykh pamiati prof M V Yanovskoho i V S Semenova (Kharkiv 27 lystopada 2015 r) [the Actual Problems of Contemporary International Law: a Collection of Scientific Articles on the Materials of the Kharkiv International Law Readings Devoted to the Memory of Prof M Yanovsky and B S Semenov (Kharkiv, November 27, 2015), ch 1 (Pravo 2015) (in Ukrainian).

16. Huban R, ‘Do pytannia pro istorychnu spadkoiemnist pry provedenni reformy administratyvno-terytorialnoho ustroiu Ukrainy na suchasnomu etapi’ [‘On the Issue of Historical Continuity in the Context of the Reform of Ukraine’s Administrative Territorial Structure at the Current Stage]’ v Konstytutsiia yak osnova rozvytku pravovoi systemy VIII Todykivski chytannia: zbirka tez naukovykh dopovidei i povidomlen Mizhnarodnoi naukovoi konferentsii molodykh uchenykh, aspirantiv i studentiv (2-3 zhovtnia 2015 r) [Constitution as the basis for the development of the legal system. VIII Todek readings: collection of abstracts of scientific reports and reports of the International scientific conference of young scientists, postgraduates and students (2-3 October, 2015)] (Prava liudyny 2015) (in Ukrainian).