Bedrii M. The role of custom in the formation of law оn Ukrainian lands up to the 18th century

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33098/2078-6670.2025.19.31.22-32

Purpose. The purpose of this article is to explore the features of the evolution of legal custom in Ukrainian lands up to the 18th century. It also aims to define the scope and directions of its influence on the development of Ukrainian law during the specified period. Methodology. The article employs a modern methodology of historical-legal research, based on which sources and literature are analyzed. In particular, the following methods are used: historical-legal, formal-dogmatic, synergetic, system-structural, hermeneutic, among others.

Results. The research confirms the leading role of custom in the formation of Ukrainian law up to the end of the 18th century. In the pre-state era, law on Ukrainian lands was formed as the customs of tribal and clan communities. Legislative acts of the princes of Kyivan Rus and the Halician-Volynian state supplemented and systematized the norms of the existing customary law. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania allowed the preservation of most of the local customary law and adopted a significant portion of it. In the Kingdom of Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Ukrainian legal customs interacted and blended with Polish law as well as German, Vlach, Jewish, and other laws. The Cossack customs of the Zaporizhian Sich gave new impetus to the development of Ukrainian customary law, which continued its evolution under the Hetmanate.

Originality. The article reveals the significance of legal custom in the pre-state society of the Eastern Slavs, Kyivan Rus, the Нalician-Volynian state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Kingdom of Poland, the Zaporizhian Sich, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Cossack-Hetman state. Archival sources were used for the analysis of this scholarly issue. Practical significance. The results of the research may be applied for academic and educational purposes and taken into account in the course of contemporary law-making and law enforcement.

Key words: custom, state, Ukrainian law, territorial communities, kopa proceedings, Cossacks, legislation.

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