POLITICAL AND LEGAL CULTURE OF UKRAINIAN SOCIETY OF THE 18TH - EARLY 19TH CENTURY: THE CODES OF 1743 AND 1807
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/2415-881x.2026.100.1.124-139
Abstract
The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of the political and legal culture of Ukrainian society in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, based on the study of key codification acts — “The Rights by Which the Little Russian People Are Judged” (1743) and “The Collection of Little Russian Rights” (1807). It is substantiated that these legal compilations reflect different stages in the integration of the Ukrainian legal space into the imperial normative system.
It is demonstrated that during the first stage (mid-eighteenth century), a model of formal legal compatibility was implemented, aimed at combining traditional Ukrainian law with imperial norms; however, in practice, this process was accompanied by the selective displacement of institutions of popular self-governance and customary law. It is proven that the 1743 Code, despite not receiving imperial approval, functioned as a carrier of national legal identity and was actively applied in the judicial practice of Left-Bank Ukraine.
The second stage (late eighteenth – early nineteenth centuries) is characterized as a transition to a policy of legal unification and centralization, reflected in the 1807 Collection, which omits issues of Ukraine’s political status, administrative autonomy, and legal subjectivity. It is shown that this transformation marked the dismantling of previous forms of political and legal self-regulation and the incorporation of Ukrainian territories into the general imperial legal system.
It is concluded that the evolution of codification practices from 1743 to 1807 illustrates the shift from limited legal autonomy to full incorporation, accompanied by a transformation of the value foundations of political and legal culture. The significance of the historical experience of preserving traditions of popular governance and legal identity for contemporary state-building processes in Ukraine is emphasized.
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References
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