| Abstrakt: |
Today the topic of this article is of immediate interest in view of the constitutional reform currently underway against the background of the crisis which has arisen in the political, economic and social sectors of Ukraine. Resolution of this issue may be significantly facilitated by the historical experience of constitutionalism accumulated in different historical times, and especially in the period of restoration of the Ukrainian Independent State in 1917-1921. The purpose of the article is, using the system of quantitative indicators, to make a comparative analysis of the draft Constitutions proposed by well-known Ukrainian legal scholars, Doctors of Law K. Levytskyi and S. Dnistrianskyi. The author studies the reasons entailing the adoption of the said drafts, which included the task of preparing an act of supreme legal force which was aimed at ensuring the legitimate restoration and functioning of the democratic and independent Ukrainian State. Both drafts were based on democratic principles which comprised the right to liberty and personal integrity, the right to respect for private and family life, the right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of assembly and association. The author shows that the draft by S.Dnistrianskyi had a 2.3 times greater volume of materials and clauses as compared with the draft by K. Levytskyi. Statistical calculations demonstrate a largely uneven distribution of the material within the drafts and its concentration in the initial part of the acts. As for the common features of substantive characteristics of the drafts, they are the presence of the institute of the presidency, a significant scope of powers granted to the Parliament and the possibility of accession of Ukraine's other regions to the West Ukrainian People's Republic. As can be seen from a review of the institutes present in these drafts, the institute of the presidency accounted for the main volume of material in the draft by K. Levytskyi, while in S.Dnistrianskyi's draft it was the institute of parliamentarism. The draft by S.Dnistrianskyi provided for the establishment of the State Judicial Tribunal composed of six members and six judges or lawyers appointed in accordance with the proposal submitted by the Chairman of State Justice or the President of the Republic, while in the draft by K. Levytskyi there was no High Court and no institute of local self-government. S.Dnistrianskyi's draft, in contrast to the act proposed by K. Levytskyi, provided for a wide participation of citizens in the administration of justice through the involvement of people's assessors, jurors and magistrates. The research made by the author allowed determining the legal experience regarding the entrenchment in the new draft Constitution of Ukraine of the provision on preservation by rural people of their shares, the use of the Ukrainian language as the official language and the support of its preservation and development by the State, and also the delegation of a larger scope of powers to local authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
