GENESIS OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND LEGAL DOCTRINE OF CONSTITUTIONALISM IN UKRAINIAN LANDS XV-XVI CENTURIES

Abstract

The article analyzes a number of questions regarding the defi nition of the phenomenon of constitutionalism and its origins in Ukrainian lands in the period from the 15th to the 16th centuries. The defi nition of “constitutionalism” still remains debatable and requires careful study. At the same time, there is an opinion that the doctrine of modern Ukrainian constitutionalism is not static, but is in the process of constant improvement. In such a context, its improvement without a good knowledge of history is a problematic task. Modern European researchers believe that the history of constitutionalism is connected with universal human political and legal values that began to take shape since Antiquity. Therefore, it is natural that the appeal to the historical and legal dimension of constitutionalism is also connected with the analysis of civilizational values and traditions rooted in the legal consciousness of the peoples of Europe. It is also appropriate to recall that the needs of forming a scientifi c and practical paradigm of modern Ukrainian constitutionalism determine not only the practical, but also the theoretical need for research into modern Ukrainian constitutionalism. This allows legitimizing the broad application of constitutional doctrine, for example in the practice of the European Court of Human Rights. When characterizing the history of the development of constitutional and legal ideas in the Ukrainian lands of the mentioned period, it should be noted that the idea of the supremacy of the law and its social value was not new in Europe, but in the Ukrainian lands it was formed only in the 16th century. At the same time, the development of the philosophical and legal doctrine of constitutionalism continued there, when the ideas of divine, and eventually natural law, began to be used to justify the concept of limiting the absolutism of royal power through written law.We associate the origins of Ukrainian constitutionalism with the development of certain philosophical and legal concepts in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Poland, and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, which directly influenced the processes of law reform, judicial proceedings, limitation of the monarch's power, and protection of human rights there.