The article aims at elaborating on the essence of legal doctrine in the Ukrainian legal tradition. The author has established that representatives of domestic and foreign political elite and scientific and expert community have repeatedly highlighted the dissatisfactory quality of the acts adopted by law-makers and judicial authorities. In this regard, the article emphasizes the importance of and the need for scientific (doctrinal) support of the jurisdictional activities of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, other public authorities and local self-government bodies.

 Summarizing, the author notes that legal systems of the majority of post-Soviet countries already meet two of the four major requirements applicable to the legal systemsof the Romano-Germanic legal family, namely, methodological and infrastructural ones. According to these criteria, only some features differentiate modern legal systems of the post-Soviet States from the Romano-German legal family.

It is established that Ukraine’s legal system is a part of modern European law, and this is natural. During the period of its historical ethnogenesis, the Ukrainian people have shown themselves to be an organic part of the European community. And although the political relations are rather complex, Ukrainians created common cultural, political and legal heritage. Given its geographical and geopolitical position, Ukraine was within the scope of cross-influences coming from the Asian-nomadic, Oriental-Byzantine and European worlds and integrated them in different ways. Nevertheless, the decisive vector of its socio-cultural, political and legal orientation was European civilization, as it was first proved by M. Hrushevskyi. By the end of the XVIII century, both the statehood and the legal system of Ukraine experienced a significant influence on the part of the legal field of the pan-European civilization, at the same time having distinctive features in the Stateand legal development.

The author states that the Ukrainian legal tradition is powerful and unique, it was formed over thousands of years; it has preserved its identity and originality, despite all the governmental, political, economic and social disasters. And Ukraine should not be afraid being included in the Western tradition – in the Romano-German legal family. The thousand-year history of Ukraine has proved that this will not affect its character and significance at all. There is no need to deny the past; but instead, the most important and the best should be taken from the rich cultural and legal tradition of Ukraine, it should be understood and assessed, with an attempt at neutralizing the negative aspects. The historical and cultural factor should be given special focus – traditions, mentality, lifestyles, and institutions of the Ukrainian legal tradition. This is what will preserve the uniqueness and originality that can not be destroyed by any reforms or legislative acts.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Alekseev S, Pravo na poroge novogo tysjacheletija: nekotorye tendencii mirovogo pravovogo razvitija – nadezhda i drama sovremennoj jepohi [Law on the Threshold of the New Millennium: Some Trends in Global Legal Development-the Hope and the Drama of the Modern Era] (Statut 2000) (in Russian).

2. Marchenko M, Sravnitel’noe pravovedenie: uchebnik [Comparative Law: Textbook] (Prospekt 2011) (in Russian).

3. Oborotov Ju, Tradicii i novacii v pravovom razvitii [Traditions and Innovations in Legal Development] (Jurid lit 2001) (in Russian).

4. Skakun O, Obshhee sravnitel’noe pravovedenie: Osnovnye tipy (sem’i) pravovyh sistem mira: uchebnik [General Comparative Law: Main Types (Families) of Legal Systems in the World: Textbook] (Іn Jure 2008) (in Russian).

Edited books

5. Marchenko M (red), Problemy teorii gosudarstva i prava: uchebnik [Issues of the Theory of State and Law: Textbook] (Norma: INFRA 2012) (in Russian).

6. Matuzov N i Mal’ko A (red), Teorija gosudarstva i prava: kurs lekcij [Theory of State and Law: A Course of Lectures] (Izd-vo Sarat un-ta 1995) (in Russian).

7. Shemshuchenko Yu (red), Pravovi systemy suchasnosti: navchalnyi posibnyk [Legal Systems of Modern Times: Study Manual] (Iuryd dumka 2012) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

8. Sviatotskyi O, ‘Pytannia teorii i praktyky konstytutsionalizmu v Ukraini’ [‘Issues of Theory and Practice of Constitutionalism in Ukraine’] (1998) 2 Pravo Ukrainy 24–7 (in Ukrainian).

Newspaper articles

9. Onishchuk M, ‘Bikameralizm: trendy dlia Ukrainy’ [‘Bicameralism: Trends for Ukraine’] (Dzerkalo tyzhnia, 27.06.2008) <https://zn.ua/ukr/internal/bikameralizm_trendi_dlya_ ukrayini.html> (accessed: 20.04.2020) (in Ukrainian).