This article analyzes the impact of Magdeburg Law on the development of local self-government in Ukraine (XIV–XIX centuries). The author emphasizes that Magdeburg Law is one of the most well-known systems of medieval city law which regulated various political, socio-economic and legal relations of those times. Geographically, it was spread in Central-Eastern Europe, and thus in the Ukrainian lands in the State of GaliciaVolhynia, and after its cessation – in the Ukrainian lands which became part of the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Russian Empire. Application of Magdeburg Law in Ukraine was noted for its widespread use by local self-government authorities of the Hetmanate cities and the Kiev city, as well as in the codification of Ukrainian law in the XVIII – early XIX centuries. Despite its broad application in Ukraine, Magdeburg Law is one of the least studied topics in Ukrainian historical and legal science.

The article highlights the peculiarities of city law, including Magdeburg Law, and notes its openness and flexibility which contributed to its spread both spatially and mentally. For this reason, Magdeburg Law is part and parcel of European legal civilization and European legal culture.

The author brings into focus high adaptability of Magdeburg Law to specific historical conditions and social needs of individual communities. The specific historical development of the Magdeburg Law principles and their detailed legal elaboration entailed its transformation into Ukrainian city law.

It is noted that the Ukrainian people, using and developing Magdeburg Law, were in the common cultural and legal space with other European nations which form the basis of the European community today.

In the Hetmanate, Magdeburg Law was the nation-wide law, since it was applied for administrative activities of cities, as well as by city and Cossack courts, and during the codification of Ukrainian law. Magdeburg Law, together with Kulm law, Saxon Mirror, Ukrainian customary law and regulatory legal acts of the Hetmanate authorities, became the main sources of the codification of Ukrainian law in the XVIII – first half of the XIX centuries. They are, in particular, “Process of Brief Orders” of 1734, “Economy in Brief”, 1734, “Laws by Which the Ukrainian People Are Judged” of 1743, “Lesser Rus’ Rights Written Out From the Books of the Statute, Saxon and Order” of 1744–1757, “Justice and Punishment in the Lesser Rus’ Rights” of 1750, “Statute Book and Other Lesser Rus’ Rights” of 1764, “Extract of Lesser Rus’ Rights” of 1767, “Extract From Decrees, Instructions and Regulations” of 1786, “Collection of Lesser Rus’ Rights” of 1807. etc.

Magdeburg Law contributed to the establishment of civil society and democracy in Ukraine, regulated social life through the prism of legal rules, and laid a legal foundation for appropriate functioning of cities. Almost all of the Ukrainian cities which were part of the State of Galicia-Volhynia, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Hetmanate had Magdeburg Law. In the middle of the XVIII century, there were about one thousand cities which had Magdeburg Law. Magdeburg Law had a significant impact on the development of local self-government in Ukraine (XIV–XIX centuries).

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Balińskie M and Lipińskie T, Starożytną Polska pod względem historycznym, geograficznym i statystycznym opisanam, t 1, 2 (Nakł S Orgelbranda Księgarza 1843–1846) (in Polish).

2. Jakowliw A, Das deutsche Recht in der Ukraine und seine Einflüsse auf das ukrainische Recht im 16–18 Jahrhundert (Hirzel 1942) (in German).

3. Boiko I, Istoriia pravovoho rehuliuvannia tsyvilnykh, kryminalnykh ta protsesualnykh vidnosyn v Ukraini (IX–XX st): navchalnyi posibnyk dlia studentiv vyshchkh navchalnykh zakladiv [History of Legal Regulation of Civil, Criminal and Procedural Relations in Ukraine (IX–XX Centuries): Study Guide for Students of Higher Educational Institutions] (Vydavnychyi Tsentr LNU imeni Ivana Franka 2014) (in Ukrainian).

4. Kobyletskyi M, Mahdeburzke pravo v Ukraini (XIV – persha polovyna XIX st.): istoryko-pravove doslidzhennia [Magdeburg Law in Ukraine (XIV – First Half of the XIX Centuries): Historical and Legal Study] (PAIS 2008) (in Ukrainian).

5. Nolde A, Ocherky po ystoryy kodyfykatsyy mestnыkh hrazhdanskykh zakonov pry hrafe Speranskom [Essays on the History of the Codification of Local Civil Laws in the Time of Count Speransky] (1906) (in Ukrainian).

6. Otamanovskyi V, Vinnytsia v XIV–XVII stolittiakh: istorychne doslidzhennia [Vinnytsia in the XIV–XVII Centuries: A Historical Study] (Kontynent-prym 1993) (in Ukrainian).

7. Ulianovskyi V, Korpus mahdeburzkykh hramot ukrainskym mistam: dva proekty vydan 20-kh–40-kh rokiv XX stolittia [Corpus of Magdeburg Charters to Ukrainian Cities: Two Draft Editions of the 20s–40s of the XX Century] (2000) (in Ukrainian).

Edited books

8. Lück H, ‘Prawo magdeburskie jako czynnik identyfikacji europejskiej rodziny miast’ in Europejskie miasta prawa magdeburskiego. Tradycja, dziedzictwo, identyfikacj: sesja komparatystyczna: materialy konferencyjne (2007) (in Polish).

9. Bahalii D, ‘Mahdeburzke pravo na Livobichnii Ukraini’ [‘Magdeburg Law in the LeftBank Ukraine’] v Rozvidky pro mista i mishchanstvo na Ukraini-Rusy v XV–XVIII v. [Investigations into the Cities and Philistinism in Ukraine-Rus’ in the XV–XVIII Centuries], ch 2 (1904) (in Ukrainian).

10. Polnoe sobranie russkih letopisej [Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles], t 2: Ipatievskaja letopis’. Fototipicheskoe vosproizvedenie izdanija 1908 goda [Hypatian Chronicle. Phototypic Reproduction of the 1908 Edition] (Izd-vo vostochnoj literatury 1962) (in Russian).

11. Prava, za yakymy sudytsia malorosiiskyi narod 1743 g. [Laws by Which the Ukrainian People Are Judged, 1743] (Shemshuchenko Yu vidp red, 1997) (in Ukrainian).

12. Pryvilei mista Lvova XIV–XVIII st. [Privileges of the City of Lviv in the XIV–XVIII Centuries], t 1 (Kapral M uporiad, Dokumentalna skarbnytsia Lvova 1998) (in Ukrainian).

13. Sobranie malorossijskih prav 1807 g. [Collection of Lesser Rus’ Rights, 1807] (Shemshuchenko Ju vіdp red, Naukova dumka 1993) (in Russian).

14. Vladymyrskyi-Budanov M, ‘Nimetske pravo v Polshchi y Lytvi’ [‘German Law in Poland and Lithuania’] v Rozvidky pro mista i mishchanstvo na Ukraini-Rusy v XV–XVIII v. [Investigations into the Cities and Philistinism in Ukraine-Rus’ in the XV–XVIII Centuries], ch 2 (1904) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

15. Doroshenko D, ‘Das deutsche Recht in der Ukraine’ (1934) Zeitschrift fūr Geschichte Osteuropes 504 (in German).

16. Kaindl F, ‘Beiträge zur Geschichte des deutschen Rechtes in Galizien’ (1906) 95 Archiv für Österreichische Geschichte 8-143 (in German).

17. Lieberwirth R, ‘Das sächsisch-magdeburgische Recht als Quelle osteropäischer Rechtsordnungen’ (1986) 127 Sitzungsberichte der Sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig: Philologisch-historische Klasse 41 (in German).

18. Roepell R, ‘Über die Verbreitung des Magdeburger Stadtrechts im Gebiete des alten Polnischen Reichs ostwärts der Weichsel’ (1858) 27 Abhandlungen der philologischhistorischen Gesellschaft in Breslau 256-7 (in German).

19. Hamburh L, ‘Mahistratski i ratushni sudy u samovriaduvanni mist UkrainyHetmanshchyny XVII–XVIII stolit’ [‘Magistrate and Town Hall Courts in Self Government of Ukrainian-Hetmanate Cities of the XVII–XVIII Centuries’] (2000) 4 Pravo Ukrainy 113 (in Ukrainian).

20. Kobyletskyi M, ‘Nadannia mistu Lvovu mahdeburzkoho prava’ [‘Granting of Magdeburg Law to the City of Lviv’] (2001) 36 Visnyk Lvivskoho universytetu. Seriia yurydychna 41 (in Ukrainian).

21. Yakovliv A, ‘Ukrainskyi kodeks 1743 roku “Prava, po kotorymъ sudytsia malorossiiskii Narodъ”. Yoho istoriia, dzherela ta systemnyi vyklad zmistu’ [‘Ukrainian Code of 1743 “Laws by Which the Ukrainian People Are Judged”. Its history, Sources, and Systematic Presentation of Content’] (1949) 159 Zapysky Naukovoho tovarystva im. T. H. Shevchenka. Pratsi Istorychno-filosofichnoi sektsii 39 (in Ukrainian).

Dissertations

22. Romanovskij V, ‘Bor’ba za finansovuju avtonomiju Ukrainy v 60-h gg. XVII veka’ [‘Struggle for Financial Autonomy of Ukraine in the 60s of the XVII Century’] (dis kand іst nauk, 1946) (in Russian).