On June 28 Ukraine celebrates the Constitution Day. Ukrainian State main law was adopted 19 years ago in 1996. The Constitution contained the historical experience of the Ukrainian nation as well as the best world practices.
The first Ukrainian Constitution is considered to be the Pylyp Orlyk Constitution, which was adopted on April 5, 1710. It was one of the most important pages in the history of the world constitutions, which belonged to Pylyp Orlyk elected as a Hetman of Ukraine in exile in the 18th century.
The Pylyp Orlyk Constitution - «Pacts and Constitutions of Rights and Freedoms of the Zaporizhian Sich» - is 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.
Historians call it one of the world’s first democratic constitutions. The main idea behind it is the absolute independence of Ukraine, and it defined Ukraine’s borders. But it also defined the rights of the people and the independent status of the Zaporizhian Sich. The Hetman was to be the head of state, but his power would be limited by a Rada, or Council. The state treasury would be separated from the Hetman’s treasury and a clearly defined amount of money would go to maintaining the Hetman. Colonels and other military leaders would be elected democratically by the Cossacks. Orthodoxy would be the faith of Ukraine, but Ukrainians would not submit to the patriarch of Moscow. The distinguishing feature of the Constitution, and that which made it one of the most democratic among similar documents of those times, were the articles that limited the Hetman’s power.
The next important step of the state-building process in Ukraine was the adoption of the «Statute on the state government, rights and freedoms of the Ukrainian People’s Republic» (Constitution of the Ukrainian People’s Republic). The document was approved by the Central Rada of the Ukrainian People’s Republic on April 29, 1918. On November 13, 1918, the West Ukrainian People’s Republic adopted the Temporary Constitution. But tragic events of that epoch prevented both documents from being properly implemented.
In Soviet times, when Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union as the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, four constitutions were adopted successively, of 1925, 1929, 1937 and 1978. Those legal instruments reflect different stages of the Soviet system and were based on the pattern of the Constitution of the USSR and its ideological ground.
Creation of the new Constitution of Ukraine has been started immediately after declaration of independence of Ukraine in 1991. It was completed in 1996 when the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the Constitution of Ukraine.
The Constitution establishes the country's political system, assures rights, freedoms and duties of citizens, and is the basis for its laws. Chapter I of the Constitution asserts that Ukraine is a sovereign and independent, democratic, and legal state. The state language in Ukraine is Ukrainian. The state symbols of Ukraine are the State Flag, the State Emblem and the State Anthem of Ukraine. The State Flag is a blue and yellow banner made from two equal horizontal stripes. The day of its adoption is a state holiday — the Constitution Day.