Today Ukraine is
celebrating Constitution Day, remembering when it finally adopted its
Constitution in 1996 after the break-up of the USSR.
But its first Constitution goes much further back - in 1710, the Kozak Hetman Pylyp Orlyk adopted the "Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host," known as Pylyp Orlyk's Constitution.
But its first Constitution goes much further back - in 1710, the Kozak Hetman Pylyp Orlyk adopted the "Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Host," known as Pylyp Orlyk's Constitution.
It was unique for its historic period, and was one of the first state constitutions in Europe. It's also regarded as the first in the world to establish the separation of government powers into the legislative, executive and judicial branches.
The document consists of a preamble and sixteen articles. According to the constitution, legislative power was vested in the General Council (parliament), which was to hold three annual sessions. The Hetman and the General Staff Council constituted the executive branch, while legal matters fell under the jurisdiction of the General Court. Thus the Ukrainian constitution of 1710 preceded those of the United States, France and Poland, and attested to the democratic thinking of the Ukrainian Kozak elite.
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