GRYBENKO O. M. The development of judical system in Ukraine during the period of the Ukrainian Central Rada (June 1917 – April 1918): an historical aspect

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       In this article the author pointed out of the features of the judicial system structure at the time of Ukrainian revolutionary parliament. The purpose of this article is to outline the characteristics and structure of the national judicial system in the period of the Ukrainian revolution 1917-1921 years. The Ukrainian Central Rada formed and gradually evolved from a public authority to the supreme legislative body (parliament), and faced the necessity of forming national judicial system.

       After creating the General Secretariat of Legal Affairs, the Ukrainian Central Rada decided to get down to reformation of the judicial system. First of all, it was necessary to start creating a higher legal authority. On November 1th, 1917, the socialist revolutionary M. Tkachenko became a commissioner of legal affairs. On November 7th, 1917, the name "general commissariat of legal affairs" was replaced by the "general secretariat of legal affairs". The judicial system of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) was divided into judicial appellate chambers. The jurisdiction of the Kyiv Appellate Court applied to the territories of Kyiv, Poltava, Chernihiv, Volyn, and Podillya provinces; the Kharkiv Appellate Court - to the territories of Kharkiv and Katerynoslavsk provinces; the Odesa Appellate Court - to the territories of the city of Odesa, as well as Kherson province and Dniprovsky district of Tavria province. According to the modern researcher O.M. Myronenko, the judicial system of Ukraine was subordinate to the central power. During the first months after the revolution, the judicial system in Ukraine was hardly different from the one in the other territories of Russia, where the Temporary Government abolished the court martials, the rural "special presences" and the positions of clerk chiefs, renewed the activity of the courts of peace, which had been abolished in Ukraine in 1889, and made the legal authorities complaint with the first edition of Legal Institutions 1864", expect for Odesa and Kharkiv". The elections of judges were held by means of secret ballot. The candidate, who won the majority, was considered to be elected, expect for those cases when it was necessary to win 3/5 votes of the present members of the Ukrainian Central Rada.

       During 1917 - early 1918 there was a process of building the national judicial system. By October 1917, the system of justice in the Ukrainian lands was identical to general. After the October Revolution UCR’s leaders are rapidly building Ukrainian judicial system. The General Court, Court of Appeal and other legal institutions were created.

Key words: The General Secretariat of Legal Affairs, The General Court of UPR, the appellate court, the prosecutor, the ministry of legal affairs, nationalization of the legal system, the military, the revolutionary military courts, the police, the free Cossacks, the Prosecutor's office.