Development of the modern Ukrainian State is driven by the search for an optimal model of society management and regulation of various social relations. Therefore, along with focusing on European legal traditions and values, it is crucial to bear in mind the experience of Ukrainian State-building in various historical periods. In this sense, of particular interest and importance are the legal customs and traditions existing in the Zaporizhian Sich, where the mentality and character of the Ukrainian nation was largely formed.

The purpose of the article is to examine the impact of the Cossack customary law on legal consciousness of Ukrainians in State-building processes, and to determine the place and role of the Zaporizhian Sich in the Ukrainian State-building in the XVI–XVIII centuries.

It is established that the customary law of Zaporizhian Cossacks played a central role in regulating various social relations. It was mostly oral and passed down from generation to generation. Recognition and compliance with its rules was one of the conditions of staying and living in the Cossack environment. Customary law contributed to the development of a particular Cossack legal consciousness resting upon a keen sense of justice, equality, and honesty. The war-time situation which Cossacks were facing almost all the time demanded absolute and clear law and order and performance of duties by each of them. Such wartime situation also dictated the socio-economic system which should ensure that Cossacks had everything they needed. For this reason, customary law was used to regulate legal relations in various areas: the ways and forms through which Cossacks were managed and their administrative bodies were established, relations between the Cossacks and the neighboring peoples, as well as public life and everyday life arrangements. The Cossack customary law became an important milestone in the Ukrainian State-building and lawmaking. As a significant positive feature, it should be noted that Ukrainians profiled themselves to the whole world as an autonomous nation possessing the right to its own State; at that time, the level of national consciousness of Ukrainian people significantly increased; Ukrainians gained the State-building experience which became firmly rooted in historical memory and ripened into the legacy of the next generations of fighters for the Ukrainian State. Being embedded in human memory, the Zaporizhian Sich reminded next generations of the glorious pages of our ancestors and called for further struggle for the national independent Ukrainian state.

Bibliography

Authored books 1. Alchuk M, Dukhovne zhyttia suspilstva [Spiritual Life of Society] (Vydavnychyi tsentr LNU imeni Ivana Franka 2002) (in Ukrainian).

2. Andrushchenko V ta Fedosov V, Zaporozka Sich yak ukrainskyi fenomen [Spiritual Life of Society] (Zapovit 1995) (in Ukrainian).

3. Apanovych O, Rozpovidi pro zaporozkykh kozakiv [Stories about Zaporizhian Cossacks] (Dnipro 1991) (in Ukrainian).

4. Boiko I, Istoriia pravovoho rehuliuvannia tsyvilnykh, kryminalnykh ta protsesualnykh vidnosyn v Ukraini (IX–XX st.) [History of Legal Regulation of Civil, Criminal and Procedural Relations in Ukraine (IX–XX Centuries)] (2014) (in Ukrainian).

5. Boiko I, Kryminalni pokarannia v Ukraini (IX–XX st.) [Criminal Penalties in Ukraine (IX–XX Centuries)] (2013) (in Ukrainian).

6. Dontsov D, Dukh nashoi davnyny [The Spirit of Our Old Ages] (Vidrodzhennia 1991) (in Ukrainian).

7. Hrozovskyi I, Pravo Novoi Sichi (1734–1775 rr.) [Law of the New Sich (1734–1775)] (Vyd-vo univ-tu vnutr sprav 2000) (in Ukrainian).

8. Hurzhii O, Ukrainska kozatska derzhava v druhii polovyni XVI–XVIII st.: kordony, naselennia, pravo [Ukrainian Cossack State in the Second Half of the XVII–XVIII Centuries: Borders, Population, Law] (Osnovy 1996) (in Ukrainian).

9. Mytsyk Yu ta Plokhii S ta Storozhenko I, Yak kozaky voiuvaly: Istorychni rozpovidi pro zaporizke kozatstvo [How the Cossacks Fought: Historical Stories about Zaporizhian Cossacks] (Sich 1991) (in Ukrainian).

10. Nalyvaiko D, Kozatska khrystyianska respublika [Cossack Christian Republic] (Dnipro 1992) (in Ukrainian).

11. Novytskyi Ya ta Sokulskyi A ta Shevchenko V, Narodna pam’iat pro kozatstvo [National Memory of the Cossacks] (Ynterbuk 1991) (in Ukrainian).

12. Yavornytskyi D, Istoriia zaporizkykh kozakiv [History of Zaporizhian Cossacks] (Svit 1990) (in Ukrainian).

Edited and translated books

13. Boplan H L de, Opys Ukrainy, Merime Proster, Ukrainski kozaky. Bohdan Khmelnytskyi [Description of Ukraine, Prosper Mérimée, Ukrainian Cossacks. Bohdan Khmelnytsky] (per z fr, Kameniar 1990) (in Ukrainian).

14. Istoriia ukrainskoho prava: posibnyk [History of Ukrainian Law: Study Guide] (Bezklubyi I red, Hramota 2010) (in Ukrainian).

15. Ukrainske derzhavotvorennia: nevytrebuvanyi potentsial: slovnyk-dovidnyk [Ukrainian State-Building: Unclaimed Potential: Reference Dictionary] (Myronenko O red, Lybid 1997) (in Ukrainian).

Thesis

16. Panonko I, ‘Aparat upravlinnia Zaporizkoi Sichi (seredyna ХVІ st. – 1775 r.)’ [‘Administrative Apparatus of the Zaporizhian Sich (Mid-XV Century – 1775)’] (avtoref dys kand yuryd nauk, 2000) (in Ukrainian).