MILITARY LEGISLATION OF THE WESTERN UKRAINIAN PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC (HISTORICAL AND LEGAL ANALYSIS)

Abstract

This article reveals the author’s understanding of the system of acts of military legislation of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic, determines their general division by types of legal regulation of socio-political relations in the military sphere. The work was carried out using worldview, general scientific, special and specific scientific methods of cognition - of which the historical and legal method is preferred, which characterizes the significance of the norms of domestic military law of 1917–1921. It was established that the subjects of rule-making of the ZUNR in general and in the military sphere in particular include: the Ukrainian National Council (UNRada), the State Secretariat, sectoral secretariats, the UNRada Division, the Labor Congress, the Plenipotentiary Dictator Yevhen Petrushevych (since June 9, 1919), district commissars and military commandants, as well as district UNRadas as self-governing bodies. It was investigated that legal acts adopted by certain subjects of the rule-making of the ZUNR had different names, namely: introduction, declaration, report, law, instruction, information message, memorial, order, circular, operational set, message, dictator’s power, oath, dictator’s order, protocol, report, recommendations, order, order, order, agreement, universal, system, resolution, staff, circular, etc. It was determined that the sources of military law of the ZUNR were: constitutional laws of the ZUNR; ordinary laws of the ZUNR; subordinate normative acts of central government and administration bodies; local acts of local executive bodies, local self-government and departments: acts of military command (chiefs of associations, military units and institutions); international legal treaties, military legal customs. It was analyzed that the acts of military legislation of the ZUNR provided: the legal basis for protecting the national security of the ZUNR; regulation of the activities of bodies that ensured the military security of the ZUNR; the procedure for organizing and operating public services in the armed forces of the ZUNR; the most important provisions relating to the performance of military duty; the legal status of servicemen and social protection of their family members; the legal responsibility of servicemen for committing offenses; the basis for information security of servicemen of the ZUNR; legal protection of civilians during war; the decision-making process during military operations in the armed forces of the ZUNR. It is indicated that the new military legislation of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic confirmed the already existing army order and formalized the legal position of the military organization of the state, its organizational principles of formation and structure of the armed forces. It is noted in the conclusion that the entire complex of public legal acts of the military legislation of the Western Ukrainian People’s Republic of the end of 1918–1919, which effectively carried out legal regulation in the military sphere, should be divided into types according to their special purpose in military construction. Further exploration of the history of the sources of domestic military law is proposed to be carried out on the basis of comparative legal research in order to streamline and improve the modern legal system of Ukraine.