RETROSPECTIVE OF THE DYNAMICS OF CRIMINAL LAW ON THE TERRITORY OF UKRAINE: GRAND DUCHY OF LITHUANIA, RZECZPOSPOLITA, COZAK PERIOD (ХІV С. – XVIІІ С.)

Abstract

The article states that a retrospective review of the dynamics of criminal law in Ukraine allows to demonstrate the presence of specific factors that permanently or temporarily influenced the dynamics of criminal law. Was continued by highlighting these issues and analyzing the dynamics of criminal law on the territory of Ukraine, starting from the ХІV с. till XVIІІ с., during the existence of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rzeczpospolita, Zaporozhian Sich. The peculiarities of criminal prosecution during the incorporation of the territories of modern Ukraine into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Rzeczpospolita, and also during the existence of the Cozack state, are considered. The author came to the conclusion that during the stay of the Ukrainian lands as part of Rzeczpospolita, the influence of the law established in another country on the national law can hardly be considered the dynamics of the national law of our country. It is appropriate to evaluate it as an influence on the further formation of one’s own legal system, including the system of criminal law. Such influence was useful in terms of rethinking such legal categories as honor and dignity, understanding the reasons for criminalization and the essence of crimes against the state, as well as raising the system of property penalties. Peculiarities of influence were manifested in the separation between different strata of the population in the application of criminal law. The dynamics of the criminal law of the Cozack era testifies to the turning of the criminal law mainly in a pragmatic direction, the optimal observance of democratic institutions and, at the same time, the elevation of its protective and preventive function.