The article is devoted to the problem of the value-based reappraisal of the historical and legal context of such an important factor in the process of national state-building as the legal culture of the Ukrainian people. It is based on the views and thoughts of historians, philosophers, and legal scholars who have, to varying degrees, highlighted specific aspects of both national culture in general and legal culture in particular. Given the multidimensional and multifaceted nature of the phenomenon of legal culture, a comprehensive methodological approach (historical, axiological, anthropological, sociological, philosophical, etc.) is applied, which allows for grasping the fullness of its essence, its multifaceted content, and its significance. Conceptually, the article is structured to outline the main, fateful milestones and stages of national state-building in both its positive and negative aspects, which reflected the worldview, quality, and level of the legal culture of the Ukrainian people as a whole. It is noted that the problem of national self-identification and the process of the Ukrainian people learning the authentic history of the struggle for the right to exist as a self-sufficient nation is one of the most painful issues of Ukrainian state-building. The relevance of this issue is extremely heightened and acquires existential significance in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Emphasis is placed on the particular value of correctly understanding and comprehending the historical and legal context of the formation of the legal culture of the Ukrainian people through the prism of its state-building vision and mission. Attention is focused on the threats and challenges posed by modern conditions of globalization in the context of forming a new international legal order. Worldview contradictions in international politics at the beginning of the 21st century devalue legal values, deform legal consciousness and legal culture, and cultivate international legal nihilism. As a result, the “right of might” begins to dominate over the “might of right”. Consequently, under such circumstances and trends, fundamental, traditional, and deeply rooted elements of the legal culture of civilized nations – including the Ukrainian one – are filled with new meaning and content. It is concluded that the historical and legal problems of the formation of the legal culture of the Ukrainian people should become an important component of modern domestic legal science. As an important element of self-affirmation and national identity, the legal culture of the Ukrainian people reflects the degree of its state-building maturity. It serves as a spiritual foundation and sociocultural background for restoring historical justice, confirming the European identity of the Ukrainian people and ensuring the return of Ukraine to its true role and place in the history of European civilization. In this way, the necessary space is created for the correct understanding and comprehension of the essence of “who we are, what we want, with whom and where we are going”.

Authored books

1. Chyzhevskyi D, Narysy z istorii filosofii na Ukraini (Praha Ukrainskyi hromadskyi vydavnychyi fond 1931) (in Ukrainian).

2. Kobyletskyi M, Mahdeburzke pravo v Ukraini (ХIV – persha polovyna ХIХ st.) (Pais 2008) (in  Ukrainian).

3. Nechui-Levytskyi I, Svitohliad ukrainskoho narodu /Eskiz ukrainskoi mifolohii (Oberehy 1992) (in Ukrainian).

4. Tyshchyk B, Zakhidno Ukrainska Narodna Respublika (1918–1923). Istoriia derzhavy i prava (Triada plius 2004) (in Ukrainian).

5. Shevchuk V, Zahublena ukrainska kultura za tysiachu rokiv (Vydavnychyi dim «Kyievo- Mohylianska akademiia» 2008) (in Ukrainian). Edited books

6. Alchuk M, ‘Formuvannia pravovoi svidomosti ta pravovoi kultury v ukrainskomu suspilstvi’ v Melnyk V (red) Stanovlennia novoi sotsiokulturnoi diisnosti v Ukraini (LNU im. Ivana Franka 2017) 68 (in Ukrainian).

7. Kalynovskyi Yu, ‘Typolohii pravosvidomosti ta pravovoi kultury: sutnisnyi i komparatyvnyi analiz’ Pravosvidomist i pravova kultura yak bazovi chynnyky derzhavotvorchoho protsesu v Ukraini (L Herasina, O Danylian, O Dzoban ta in. Pravo 2009) 30 (in Ukrainian).

8. Khrestomatiia z istorii derzhavy i prava Ukrainy: navch. posib. dlia stud. yuryd. spets. Vyshchykh navch. zakl. (red V Honcharenko 2003) (in Ukrainian).

9. Shkliar L, ‘Pravo yak atrybut natsionalnoi kultury: ukrainoznavchyi aspekt’ v Shynkaruk V Bystrytskyi Ye (red) Fenomen ukrainskoi kultury: metodolohichni zasady osmyslennia (Feniks 1996) 260 (in Ukrainian). Journal articles

10. Boiko I, ‘Peredumovy stanovlennia i rozvytok kyievo-ruskoi derzhavy: istoryko-pravovi aspekty’ [2025] 1 Pravo Ukrainy 70 http://doi.org/10.33498/louu-2025-01-070 (in Ukrainian).

11. Boiko I, ‘Rozvytok prava yak vazhlyvoi oznaky Halytsko-Volynskoi derzhavy (1199– 1349  roky)’ [2020] 1 Pravo Ukrainy 97 https://doi.org/10.33498/louu-2020-01-097 (in Ukrainian).

12. Dmytriienko I, ‘Pervisna ukrainska pravova kultura: pochatkovi formy khudozhno- pravovoi svidomosti, kultury ta yikh artefaktiv – pershoosnovy normatyvno-pravovoho svitoosmyslennia’ [2009] 2 Forum prava 116 (in Ukrainian).

13. Kachur V, ‘Do vyznachennia poniattia «pravova kultura» u pravoznavstvi’ [2019] 10 (1) Pravo. Liudyna. Dovkillia 12 (in Ukrainian).

14. Makarenko L, ‘Osnovni pidkhody u doslidzhenni pravovoi kultury v suchasnii yurydychnii nautsi’ [2017] 28 Pravova derzhava 136 (in Ukrainian).

15. Terliuk I, ‘Fenomen natsii u naukovomu dyskursi: do metodolohii problemy istorychnoi spadkoiemnosti natsii ta derzhavy’ [2018] 902 (19) Visnyk Natsionalnoho universytetu «Lvivska politekhnika». Seriia: Yurydychni nauky 19 (in Ukrainian).

16. Terliuk I, ‘«Derzhava» i «derzhavnist»: do problemy teoretyko-pravovoho ta istoryko- pravovoho zmistu poniat v konteksti ukrainskoho (natsionalnoho) derzhavotvorennia’ [2021] 1 (29) Visnyk Natsionalnoho universytetu «Lvivska politekhnika». Seriia: Yurydychni nauky 17 http://doi.org/10.23939/law2021.29.017 (in Ukrainian).

17. Shevchuk L, ‘Pravova kultura ukrainskoho narodu periodu Hetmanshchyny kriz pryzmu Konstytutsii 1710 roku: tsinnisnyi aspekt’ [2025] 81 Visnyk Lvivskoho universytetu. Seriia yurydychna 115 https://doi.org/10.30970/vla.2025.81.115 (in Ukrainian).

18. Shevchuk L, ‘Spravedlyvist i humanizm yak tsinnisni oriientyry pravosvidomosti ta pravovoi kultury Hetmanshchyny’ [2023] 76 Visnyk Lvivskoho universytetu. Seriia yurydychna 71 https://doi.org/10.30970/vla.2023.76.071 (in Ukrainian). Conference papers

19. Mynkovych-Slobodianyk O, ‘Osoblyvosti spivvidnoshennia etapiv formuvannia pravovoi ta politychnoi kultur’ Pravove zhyttia suchasnoi Ukrainy: u 2t.: materialy Mizhnar. nauk.- prakt.konf. (m. Odesa, 17 travnia 2019 r.) Т.1 (vidp. red. H. O. Ulianova, Helvetyka 2019) 68 (in Ukrainian).

20. Shevchuk L, ‘Liublinska uniia 1569 r. yak kliuchovyi chynnyk transformatsii ukrainskoi pravovoi kultury na zlami XVI–XVII stolit’ Problemy derzhavotvorennia i zakhystu prav liudyny v Ukraini: materialy XXXII zvitnoi naukovo-praktychnoi konferentsii (6–7 liutoho 2026 r.) (Iurydychnyi fakultet Lvivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Ivana Franka 2026) 106 (in Ukrainian). Theses

21. Kolych O, ‘Filosofsko-pravova kontseptsiia polemichnoi literatury’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2017) (in Ukrainian).

22. Ovchynnykova A, ‘Fenomenolohiia pravovoi kultury: filosofsko-pravove doslidzhennia’ (dys kand yuryd nauk, 2016) (in Ukrainian). Newspaper articles

23. Volodymyr Yermolenko, ‘Khto my ye. Shcho take ukrainska kultura, yak vona proiavliaie sebe v tsi dni viiny?’ DIE ZEIT (Hamburg, 9 Oktober 2022) (accessed 01.03.2026) (in Ukrainian).