The article describes methodological aspects of the historical and legal doctrine of Ukrainian statehood. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the historical and legal doctrine of Ukrainian statehood, and an emphasis is made on the right of the Ukrainian nation to create the national State, on the rule of law, democracy, self-government, and legitimacy which, through their historical consistency, resolve the issues of continuity of Ukrainian statehood. Owing to the use of the historical and legal approach, separate areas of modern scientific research of Ukrainian statehood are distinguished, in particular, research of the State and legal tradition, democracy (rule of the people), self-government, non-State law, etc.

It is noted that the historical and legal doctrine of Ukrainian statehood ensues from finding the answer to the question about the correlation between the general history of law and branch legal sciences. In our opinion, the main objectives of the general history of law are to create its integral version, and this involves consideration of temporal differences arising from the claims of any law to duration in time and repeatability. The main objective of branch legal sciences in the domain of legal history is the historical and genetic reconstruction of the dogmas of law, which would allow answering the question about the reasons, commitments, philosophical and methodological foundations, and the course of establishment and development thereof.

 It is proved that the scientific doctrine of the history of Ukrainian statehood enjoys the widest understanding of the rule of law – the understanding which, during the period of its more than two thousand-year existence, often became very weak but never completely disappeared, the understanding that the supreme power, the State and its officials should be restricted by law. The article focuses on the examples of this understanding of the rule of law found in numerous monuments of Ukrainian law, especially Cossack law. “Anonymous Memo on the Need to Curtail the Hetman’s Power” which was drafted by an unknown candidate for the position of one of the Starshina General (officership) before D. Apostol was elected as Hetman and which scientists regard as a draft of the Minor Constitution, mentions the leading role of law and involvement of court in the political competition between the Hetmanate and the starshina.

The aspiration for the rule of law as a restriction of State power can be traced further than various stages of Ukrainian statehood, for example, in constitutional documents. Ukrainians also retained these aspirations in the periods when Ukrainian lands were part of other States. There are plenty of historical examples – as struggle of the Ukrainian gentry for “golden liberties” in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzeczpospolita), struggle of urban communities for the urban self-government law, as struggle of Ukrainians in the Austrian and Russian Empires for the electoral rights, or struggle of Ukrainians in the Ukrainian SSR for political pluralism, and etc.

Bibliography

Authored books

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2. Bojko I, Orhany vlady i pravo V Halychyni u skladi Polskoho Korolivstva (1349–1569 rr.) [Authorities and Law in Galicia within the Polish Kingdom (1349–1569)] (Vydavnychyi tsentr LNU imeni Ivana Franka 2009) (in Ukrainian).

3. Dzeiko Zh, Zakonodavcha tekhnika v Ukraini: istoryko-teoretychne doslidzhennia [Legislative Engineering in Ukraine: Historical and Theoretical Study] (Kyivskyi natsionalnyi universytet imeni Tarasa Shevchenka 2007) (in Ukrainian).

4. Holovko O, Hrechenko V, Pravo Kyivskoi Rusi v doslidzhenniakh vchenykh universytetiv na terenakh Ukrainy u ХІХ – na pochatku ХХ st. [The Law of Kievan Rus in Research of Academic Universities on the Territories of Ukraine in the Nineteenth – Early Twentieth Centuries] (Konstanta 2018) (in Ukrainian).

5. Hural P, Terytorialni hromady v Ukraini: istoryko-pravove doslidzhennia [Territorial Communities in Ukraine: A Historical and Legal Study] (Krai 2008) (in Ukrainian).

6. Kiselychnyk V, Miske pravo ta samovriaduvannia hromady Lvova (druha polovyna ХІХ – pochatok ХХ stolittia) [City Law and Self-Government of Lviv Community (Second Half 10. Mochulska M ta Semkiv V, Pravova doktryna v kontynentalnii pravovii systemi: monohrafiia [Legal Doctrine in the Continental Legal System: Monograph] (Svit 2015) (in Ukrainian).

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11. Pankevych I, Tradytsiia vybornosti vlady v Ukraini: monohrafiia [The Tradition of Electing Power in Ukraine: Monograph] (LNU imeni Ivana Franka 2015) (in Ukrainian).

Edited and translated books

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15. Tamanaha B, Verkhovenstvo prava: istoriia, polityka, teoriia [The Rule of Law: History, Politics, Theory] (Ishchenko A pereklad z anhl, Kyievo-Mohylianska akademiia 2007) (in Ukrainian).

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17. Usenko I (red), Pravovyi zvychai yak dzherelo ukrainskoho prava ІХ–ХІХ st. [Legal Custom as a Source of Ukrainian Law of the IX–XIX Centuries] (Naukova dumka 2006) (in Ukrainian).

Conference papers

18. Semkiv V, ‘Nauka istorii prava ta istorychni znannia haluzevykh yurydychnykh nauk: problemy spivvidnoshennia’ [‘Law History Science and Historical Knowledge of Branch Legal Sciences: Issues of Correlation’ ] v Problemy derzhavotvorennia i zakhystu prav liudyny v Ukraini: Materialy XXI zvitnoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii [Issues of State-Building and Human Rights Protection in Ukraine: Materials of the XXI Reporting Scientific and Practical Conference] (12–13 liutoho 2015 r.), ch 1 (Nats un-t im Ivana Franka 2015) (in Ukrainian).