«Treaty on the constitutional rights and freedoms of the Zaporozhian Army» as the constitutional principles of state life of the Ukrainian Cossack state of the second half of the XVII-XVIII centuries

The article examines the legal foundations of the state life of the Ukrainian Cossack state in the second half of the XVII-XVIII centuries through the prism of the «Treaty on the Constitutional Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Army». The content of the Ukrainian-Muscovite articles is analyzed as an example of early modern constitutionalism in Eastern Europe. The political and legal significance of these documents for the formation of the idea of limited power, representative government and social protection is revealed. The efforts of the Cossack elite to preserve autonomous rights are highlighted. It is proved that Cossack law is a unique form of constitutional tradition in the history of Ukrainian state formation.To analyze the content and meaning of the «Treaty on the Constitutional Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Army» as the fundamental constitutional principles of the Ukrainian Cossack state; to determine their influence on the formation of the political and legal system and mechanisms of state administration.The methodological basis of the scientific article: the historical-legal method for the reconstruction of the legal bases and traditions of the Cossack statehood; a systemic-structural approach to identify the institutional elements of the state system established in Cossack law; source method for analysis of normative acts.The concept of the «Treaty on the Constitutional Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporozhian Army» not only reflected customary law, but also acquired a normative design that corresponded to the principles of constitutionalism in early modern Europe.It is shown that despite the formal dependence on the Moscow protectorate, the Ukrainian Cossack elite defended autonomous «rights and freedoms» as the political and legal foundation of their statehood.The Document formed a unique model of state and legal thinking, which combined democratic principles, military organization and customary law. The study allows us to assert that the Cossack state of the second half of the XVII-XVIII centuries had developed features of early modern constitutionalism. Legal codification of «freedoms» was not only a means of preserving identity, but also a political mechanism for resisting external pressure by the Moscow state.