Pylyp Orlyk’s Constitution on the Prevention of Corruption in the Hetmanate

Abstract

The paper investigates the deep historical roots of corruption as a socio-legal phenomenon in Ukrainian lands during the Hetmanate period (second half of the 17th - early 18th centuries) and comprehensively analyzes the anti-corruption provisions of the Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk of 1710. The study examines systemic abuses of power by the Cossack starshyna (officer corps) and hetmans (in particular, I. Samoilovych, I. Mazepa, Yu. Khmelnytsky, and P. Polubotok), which manifested in nepotism, illegal extortions, mass distribution of state lands, and the merging of administrative, financial, and judicial powers under conditions of weak normative regulation. It is proven that such corrupt practices, often stimulated by external political influence, not only led to the deepening of social inequality and the impoverishment of ordinary Cossacks, but also significantly weakened the legitimacy of the government and threatened statehood itself, causing mass public discontent.
The Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk became a conceptual normative and legal response to these challenges. The document introduced some of the first effective mechanisms of government control in Europe: strict separation of public and private finances, election to offices based on merit, accountability of the Hetman to the General Council, ensuring the independence of the judiciary, as well as the right to political resistance against abuses (a prototype of the modern institution of whistleblowers). It is emphasized that these innovative legal ideas did not remain purely theoretical, but partially found their reflection in the reformist anti-corruption measures of subsequent leaders of the Hetmanate. The continuity of the Ukrainian anti-corruption tradition is traced and the relevance of this historical experience for improving the modern legal system of Ukraine is emphasized, in particular in the issues of strengthening the institutional independence of regulatory bodies and ensuring transparency in resource management. The practical value of the work also lies in the possibility of taking these historical lessons into account when developing the state’s latest anti-corruption strategy.