Constitutional law categories with the content which is still subject to heated debate include the category of “constitutional order” standing out prominently not only because of its ambiguity but also given its relevance for constitutional law application.

Its ambiguity stems mainly from an attempt to “peg” this category, in terms of its content, to the historical division into respective types of stateand socially established order which existed in the Soviet theory, as a system of institutions and relations. Dozens of monographic (dissertation) studies focused on theoretical foundations of this institution, on the guarantees of the said order and the system of its protection did not help solve this dilemma.

The need for a detailed interpretation is associated with its use to determine the content and scope of legal capacity of the Ukrainian people: only the people have the right to determine and change the constitutional order (Part 3, Article 5 of the Constitution of Ukraine). Attempts of the constitutional jurisdiction body to provide a final interpretation of this formula were limited to outlining of the Fundamental Law sections setting forth the foundations of the constitutional order. The urgent nature of this issue was also apparent when the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) considered the case of the Law on the All-Ukrainian Referendum (Decision dated April 26, 2018).

The purpose of this article is to determine the content of the category “constitutional order” in the context of exclusivity of the right to determine and change it enjoyed by the Ukrainian people. Accomplishment of this task was facilitated by the use of the historical-political method (detailed analysis of the “Soviet”-era juridical documents and acts preceding the adoption of the Fundamental Law of 1996, as well as development of the theory of the state (constitutional) order in the Soviet science of the State), and also the comparativism method (scientific exploration of how similar institutions function in the theory and practice of foreign countries) and the systematic and formal logic methods (ascertaining of the system links with other provisions of the Constitution).

The author demonstrates how the category “constitutional order” emerged in the Soviet science of the State, how it was further transformed and what connotations it has received in national law.

To a significant extent, the material concerns the analysis of similar institutions of “constitutional order” (Germany), “constitutional system” (USA), “Republican principles” (France), “Republican form” (Greece) and “the basic structure of the Constitution” (India).

Given the analysis of CCU’s legal positions and the identified system relations between constitutional provisions, the author comes to the conclusion that the formula set forth in Part 3, Article 5 of the Constitution of Ukraine should be regarded as a guarantee against any further restriction of the constitutionally established legal capacity of the Ukrainian people. 

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Chemerinsky E, Constitutional law: principles and policies (Aspen Publishers 2006) (in English).

2. Rogoff M, French constitutional law: cases and materials (Carolina Academic Press 2011) (in English). 3. Spyropoulos P, Constitutional law of Hellas (Kluwer Law International 1995) (in English).

4. Tushnet M, New constitutional order (Princeton University Press 2003) (in English).

5. Farber I i Rzhevskij V Voprosy teorii sovetskogo konstitucionnogo prava [Issues of Theory of Soviet Constitutional Law] (Privolzhskoe knizhnoe izdatelstvo 1967) (in Russian).

Edited and translated books

6. Collins Russian-English, English-Russian Dictionary (HarperCollins Publishers 2001) (in English).

7. Encyclopedia of American Constitution (Macmillan Library Reference USA 2000) (in English).

8. Eremenko Ju, ‘Ponjatie i sistema socialisticheskogo konstitucionalizma’ [‘The Concept and System of Socialist Constitutionalism’] v Pravoporjadok i pravovoj status lichnosti v razvitom socialisticheskom obshhestve v svete Konstitucii SSSR 1977 goda [Legal Order and Legal Status of an Individual in a Well-Developed Socialist Society in the Light of the USSR Constitution of 1977] (Izdatel’stvo Saratovskogo universiteta 1980) (in Russian).

9. Hesse K, Osnovy konstitucionnogo prava FRG [Fundamentals of Constitutional Law of the Federal Republic of Germany] (Sidorova E per s nem, Juridicheskaja literatura 1981) (in Russian).

10. Konstytutsiia Ukrainy: naukovo-praktychnyi komentar [The Constitution of Ukraine: Scientific and Practical Commentary] (Tatsii V holova redkol, Pravo, In Yure 2003) (in Ukrainian).

11. Lenin V, Polnoe sobranie sochineniy [Complete Works Collected] (Politizdat 1980) (in Russian).

12. Melnyk M ta Khavroniuk M (red), Naukovo-praktychnyi komentar kryminalnoho kodeksu Ukrainy [Scientific and Practical Commentary on the Criminal Code of Ukraine] (Iuryduchna dumka 2010) (in Ukrainian).

Websites

13. ‘Political system’ (Encyclopædia Britannica) <https://www.britannica.com/topic/ political-system> (accessed: 24.08.2019) (in English).

14. ‘Osnovy konstitucionnogo stroja RB’ [‘Fundamentals of the Constitutional Order of the Republic of Belarus’] (BarGU.by, 10.01.2011) <http://bargu.by/271-osnovykonstitucionnogostroya-rb.html> (accessed: 24.08.2019) (in Russian).

15. Futei B, ‘Pyshuchy novu Konstytutsiiu, zazyraimo do staroi’ [‘In Writing the New Constitution, Let’s Look at the Old One’] (Ukrainska pravda, 30.06.2007) <https:// www.pravda.com.ua/rus/articles/2007/07/30/4421899> (accessed: 24.08.2019) (in Ukrainian).

16. Rechytskyi V, ‘Rozshyrenyi polityko-pravovyi komentar do Rishennia Konstytutsiinoho Sudu Ukrainy u spravi za konstytutsiinym podanniam 252 narodnykh deputativ Ukrainy shchodo vidpovidnosti Konstytutsii Ukrainy (konstytutsiinosti) Zakonu Ukrainy “Pro vnesennia zmin do Konstytutsii Ukrainy” vid 8 hrudnia 2004 r. № 2222-IV (sprava pro doderzhannia protsedury vnesennia zmin do Konstytutsii Ukrainy) vid 30 veresnia 2010 r.’ [‘Expanded Political and Legal Commentary on the Decision of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine in the Case Based on the Constitutional Application of 252 People’s Deputies of Ukraine Concerning Compliance of the Law of Ukraine “On Amendments to the Constitution of Ukraine” Dated December 8, 2004 No. 2222-IV with the Constitution of Ukraine (Constitutionality) (Case of Observance of the Procedure for Amending the Constitution of Ukraine) Dated September 30, 2010’] (Prava Liudyny v Ukraini. Informatsiinyi portal Kharkivskoi pravozakhysnoi hrupy, 21.10.2010) <http://khpg.org/index.php?id=1287659103> (accessed: 24.08.2019) (in Ukrainian).